In movies we have seen many actors lose and gain weight in order to physically transform into their character. Robert DeNiro gained weight and muscle in Raging Bull and Cape Fear. More recently, Tom Hanks lost 50 pounds to play the FedEx executive who gets stranded on a island in Cast Away, and Renée Zellweger gained some healthy looking fat for Bridget Jones’s Diary I&II. However, none of this compares to the gruelling feat Christian Bale performed to lose a staggering 63 pounds, turning him in a living skeleton.

Bale plays Trevor Reznik (indeed a reference to Nine Inch Nails’ frontman Trent Reznor) who is an operator in a factory. He’s suffering from hallucinations and has become completely emaciated from lack of rest, not having slept for a whole year. Outside his graveyard shift, he spends his nights with the kind prostitute Stevie (Jennifer Jason Leigh) or at the counter of a bar at the airport, where he enjoys the company of waitress Marie (the beautiful Aitana Sánchez-Gijón). After an accident at work, he feels that his grip on reality is slipping more and more. Afraid that he might be going insane, he looks for answers and a way to solve the mystery surrounding his life.

After watching this movie it’s impossible not to start comparing to other movies with a similar complicated and surprising plot. But stating that we have seen all this before would cut this great movie short. I also won’t make comparisons, in order not to give the story away. I didn’t know a lot about this movie prior to watching, and I was very impressed by the mystery and the hauntingly good performance of Bale. Watching him was at times painful and kept me wondering how far an actor should be allowed to go to ‘fill in’ his role. According to rumour, Bale wanted to take his extreme crash-diet – consisting of only a can of tuna and an apple per day – even further, but was not allowed that, as it could seriously endanger his health. Nevertheless, he did it to great effect and perfectly portrayed a man who is slowing losing his grip on reality and himself. Together with the truly stunning cinematography and eerie yet beautiful score, the mood is perfectly set in this dark movie. The supporting role of John Sharian was very effective, Jennifer Jason Leigh seemed a bit lost, but Bale was just all over the place.