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The film was shot on a low budget, mostly on location in some of the seedier spots in New Jersey, and the graininess of the film and the handheld camera are perfect; a slicker production would have felt too contrived or cheesy. We spend a lot of time behind Randy, listening to him breathe, getting inside his head, feeling his aches—which he soothes with various painkillers and injections of hormones and steroids. It's a viscerally personal experience.

Randy gets bloodied and bruised in the ring

Rourke's performance will undoubtedly and deservedly go down as one of the finest. Mickey Rourke has his own hazy history in the ring—as an amateur, and later, professional boxer—and has gone through his own set of challenges, setbacks, beatings, and reconstructions, and the only way to explain what is happening here is that Rourke is Randy—from his stringy bleach-blond hair to the tears that leak from the corner of his eyes to the triumphant smile. Tour de force may be a clichd reviewer's phrase for performances during Oscar season, but it's the only one that can be applied to Rourke here.

I am not a fan of professional wrestling, and my life is worlds away from Cassidy's and Randy's. But when the credits rolled over Bruce Springsteen at the end of The Wrestler, I felt as if I'd woken up, and realized I'd been extraordinarily engrossed in Randy's story. That, if nothing else, is a testament to the intimate and compelling work of The Wrestler.

Talk About It

1. Have you ever discovered, like Randy, that you have focused on one part of your life, and in the process, hurt those you love? What did you have to do to make it right?
   
   
2. Randy and Cassidy both work in professions that require them to use their bodies to make their living, and in The Wrestler an interesting and obvious comparison is drawn between pro wrestling and stripping. What do you think the similarities are? Are there differences?
   
   
3. Cassidy casually compares the scars on Randy to the wounds inflicted on Jesus, which she saw in The Passion. What is the relationship between violence in a film such as this and the violence in a film like The Passion? What might Matthew 25:40 have to say to Christians about how they view people like Randy and Cassidy?
   
   

The Family Corner

The Wrestler is rated R for violence, sexuality/nudity, language and some drug use. The movie does not shy away from the graphic aspects of either of the main characters' lives; there are several extended scenes with mostly-naked strippers working in a club, several up close, as well as graphic, bloody violence in the wrestling ring (including one in which barbed wire, staple guns, broken glass, and other grimace-inducing objects figure prominently). There's also a brief but fairly explicit sex scene, and brief cocaine snort, and plenty of bad language.

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4. Past the Popcorn

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