Any which way you describe this uncompromising movie, it will never sound palatable.

Still, it features one of the most spectacular physical transformations by an actress hungry for a meaty role.

I haven’t used the term “tour de force” in all of 2003, but now it is time.

Charlize Theron, the former dancer and model known for her exceptional beauty and her work in “The Cider House Rules” and “The Italian Job,” packed on 30 pounds and wore, among other things, a dental prosthesis to play Aileen Wuornos, the Florida prostitute sentenced to death for killing a number of her johns.

This is no circus-stunt performance. Theron not only transforms herself into a fright mask, she takes on the swaggering mannerisms, juiced-up anxiety, pentup-rage speech patterns and a fireplug’s low center of gravity in this role of a lifetime.

If you’ve seen any of the documentaries about Wuornos, you’ll know that this woman was beastly in looks and deeds, and has been called America’s first female serial killer, a label of dubious distinction.

But writer-director Patty Jenkins, along with Theron, who co-produced, give Wuornos a context that actually makes a drop of empathy possible.

That in itself is a miracle.

To say Aileen was not popular is an understatement. Lonely, guarded, self-deluded, she gingerly hooks up with repressed lesbian Selby Wall (Christina Ricci). With Selby, Aileen finally feels connected, important and loved, but none of that can erase years of abuse, poverty and a mile of denial.

The results are gruesome. The first time Aileen kills a client, it’s for good reason. After that, the rush of inheriting the dead man’s wallet and car, and the manipulative gratitude from the dependent Selby make murder too tempting a way to pick up pocket change.

Aileen takes to her new profession with alacrity, but also with self-loathing.

Aileen and Selby make an odd couple, and the movie is cast to underscore that.

Theron is tall and, with her extra weight, she looks like a Thanksgiving parade balloon compared to the petite Ricci. The frank sex scenes between them are sad and unerotic, reeking of desperation.

It will be hard to lure audiences to this downer, but its acute understanding of such a monster’s misery furthers our comprehension of how and why human atrocities occur.

Watch the scene of the ungainly, ill-equipped, dressed-all-wrong Aileen going on a conventional job hunt in an effort to go straight – only to be ridiculed, humiliated and ground into the dirt – and tell me you don’t feel just a little for this lost soul.

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MONSTER

3 stars

Starring: Charlize Theron, Christina Ricci.

Director: Patty Perkins.

Rated: R (strong violence, sexual content and pervasive language)

Running time: 1 hour, 51 minutes

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(c) 2003, New York Daily News.

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Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.

AP-NY-12-24-03 1308EST