The first act begins with the young Aileen. Aided by the voice over narration we learn some of the necessary background information, detailing Aileens tragic childhood. We are given clues as to how and why she started prostituting herself as well as her social/economic background. These all lay a strong foundation from which the story and our understanding can be built on. The first few scenes – of the young Aileen – hook us into the story. We hear about how Aileen dreamed of becoming famous, of rising out of her situation. They also hint toward the tone and mood, i.e. the genre of the film. It is through this clever use of narration that we can closely identify with, i.e. become familiar with her attitude to life, her world and history of dilemmas. We hear how she always wanted to be taken to a new life, and would do anything (anyone) who she thought might help her get where she wanted to go. These words echo with us as we dissolve forward to the life of the adult Aileen, leaving us to fill in some of the gaps, guessing how messed up her life must have got.
We enter Aileen’s adult life with a lonely shot of her sitting by the highway. This is very appropriate as the previous shot was of her as a teenage girl getting into the car of a strange man on the side of a main road. We can guess that this pattern has been ongoing and we pick up with the adult her having just finished with a “client”.
Soon thereafter the plot takes us right into the inticing incident. In a lonely roadside bar we meet Salvie, a lesbian girl who herself has been searching for something, love and understanding. It is this confrontational meeting of Salvie and Aileen which propels the plot forward. It introduces a brand new element into Aileen’s life, which sets it off on a changed course – we later learn that she was contemplating suicide. At first Aileen is unsure of her how she feels about Sylvie, but it is after Sylvie has invited her out that night, that she realises she has potentially found the friend she never had and always wanted. They go out to the ice rink and soon find themselves involved in a passionate “love-making” session outside.
Suddenly Aileen has found direction. She wants nothing more than to be with Sylvie. This leads up to the first act climax and first major turning point. Aileen returns to the highways to ply her trade, in order to make much needed money. A dubious looking customer soon picks her up. Then in a very disturbing scene, he beats and sodomises her. She manages to free herself and using his gun, shoots him, and then drives off with his car and money. This plot point sets the scene for the rest of the movie. Aileen has committed murder. The atrocities committed to her fuel her hatred for men, which will motivate her to continue her murder spree. She also discovers a means to make lots of money. She also has a goal, for the major plot of the movie is surrounding her murders, indeed, the Sylivie/Aileen plot is also a major plot, but the two plots are so intermingled that it is hard to see them as mutually exclusive.
Nonetheless, this climax takes us straight into act two, as Aileen Rushes to make her appointment with Sylvie. After some convincing Sylvie agrees to run away with her and spend at least one week with her. There is a lull in the pace as we see a montage of them renting a hotel, going out, living the dream life they had both always wanted. But soon there is a minor set back. Sylvie goes home to get some cloths and is confronted by her aunt who reprimands her. Sylvie manages to not be deterred and passes the test of her character growth (or de-growth) as she chooses to go her own way with Aileen.
Then comes another plot point. In an emotional, reminiscing scene, Aileen tells Sylvie how she always wanted to be president and that she was once told that all you need in life is Love and to believe in yourself. This motivates Aileen to go out and look for a real job. She is extremely unsuccessful and the old Aileen resurfaces as she loses her cool with an obnoxious potential employer. Straight thereafter Aileen is picked up by a corrupt cop who forces her into a sexual “favour”. These two scenes refocus the plot. We can see that Aileen can do nothing but prostitute herself and they also re-affirm her hatred for men, which will drive her onto more murders.
By about the half-way point of the movie, Aileen reaches a point of no return. In a previous confrontational scene in which Sylvie accuses her of not providing for them, Aileen had told Sylvie about the first murder, but she agrees to go out and whore for money. The point of no return comes when in a car with the guy; she hesitates, hesitates, then pulls out her gun and shoots him. She is now a murderer. She knows again what her goal is; survival by murder.
She feels that she is doing it for Sylvie and indeed shows us that she loves her in her own way. In a powerfully passionate scene and no-return point in the Sylvie/Aileen plot, Aileen tells Sylvie that she loves her and the two make love.
The rest of act two involves a few more murders and some set backs in their relationship. Sylvie goes out to the bar attempting to meet new people, and upsets Aileen. They go to funworld and things look on track once again, as they also make plans for their trip to the Florida Keys.
All “good times” must come to an end, and this happens as, in what is in my opinion the act two climax, they have a car crash and end up on the run. Aileen tells her about the murders and they now have a new clearly defined goal, that is to avoid capture.
Act three especially the last fifteen minutes are extremely intense and engaging. The story continues as previous but at a more intense and emotionally engaging level. Sylvie in a surprising and lady MacBeth look a like scene, tells Aileen that she just needs to carry on killing as they need to live. In the most extreme depiction of the murders, Aileen kills a John who was very benign and just wished to help her. Then she mistakenly kills a cop. They realise that things are getting out of hand and Aileen sends Sylvie on ahead or home (not sure) so that she can meet up with her later. She is ultimately however picked up by the cops.
The film doesn’t relent there as we are dragged ever closer by the power mostly of Charlise’s performance and specifically the parallel editing in the jail scene. Aileen and Sylvie have a phone conversation, and they both profess their undying love. Matching the very subtle, slow camera movement away from Sylvie, is her ever more dubious questioning. It is a very sudden, very tragic moment when the pennie drops and at various times the audience become aware of the betrayal, albeit understandable, taking place. It is even more tragic to see Aileens response as she admits solely to the murders, saving her only true love of any punishment, thus conveying beautifully the films major theme of the desperation love can drive you to.
In the final shot of Aileen being led to the electric chair, her narration is heard. The last hard-hitting message comes as, commenting on something she had heard when she was young about reaching your dreams, she says cynically “I guess they have to tell you something”.
Upon first watching it, I failed to realise how structured this movie actually was. But it is through movies like this that my faith in the Hollywood formula is being reborn. This movie is by no means boring, tiresome or old. It is just perfectly structured. From the first frame it grabs you by the collar and engages you in a two-hour ride of emotions. It is an incredibly difficult story to tell. It deals with issues that many feel are better left undelt with and thus does not appeal to everyone. We are not forced to like Aileen. There are constant emotional checks that cause us to examine our sentiments. Indeed we can pity her, but not necessarily forgive or excuse her behaviour. What this movie does do and I feel this was the filmmaker’s intention is get us to think a little harder about our own life, our treatment of others our place in society and those less fortunate than us. It also makes us think a bit more before judging someone’s actions, as we don’t necessarily understand their background. It makes us question what a monster is, and if indeed a monster is ever a monster or just someone similar to us who has had a life to tough for them to handle. The judgements to these philosophies are left up to the audience to make, but the reason theses themes and questions are put across so powerfully in this story is definitely in large part as a result of the construction of the totally engaging plot.
