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"Blonde" dir. by Andrew Dominik


"Blonde"

Where I watched it: Netflix

This is a weird one. It's a bio-pic about Marilyn Monroe but it's based on the fictionalized story of a book that came out in 2000 by the same name.

So first off, why use a real historical figure when the events are fictionalized? I mean, it's forgivable when you put out something like "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" because it's obviously satire, but I can guarantee a handful of people are going to walk away from "Blonde" with the assumption that it's based on true events.

Is the story so widely different from the actual life of Marilyn Monroe for it to make a significant difference? Well, yes and no. Its sentiment is clear that a life of fame for a woman mostly recognized in the 1950s for her "beauty" would have been a life of constant harassment and exploitation, but the accounts of historians seem to suggest that Marilyn Monroe had a respectable level of autonomy in her modeling/film career. To strip her of that in this film seems unnecessary and damaging to this particular individual's legacy.

On the flip side, many females trying to work in the modeling and film industry to this day will find horrifically relatable content in this film. Its depiction of predators in positions of power are truly revolting and the filmmaker, Andrew Dominik, doesn't hold back in showing these scenes in explicit detail. The JFK scene is particularly nauseating.

The film is borderline experimental. It jumps from black and white to color and changes aspect ratio completely at will. It jumps between reality and fantasy as "Marilyn Monroe" struggles to maintain her sanity.

It makes sense why someone like Ana De Armas would be chosen for this role, she nails a full spectrum of emotions and really embodies this version of Monroe but for reasons perhaps outside of anyone's control the Spanish accent manages to sneak into each delivery of her dialogue.

This film has some pacing problems, it gets pretty slow at times and it's full runtime is close to 3 hours.

In the end I think the big problem here is that this film ultimately becomes the thing that it is trying to dismantle. It feels sleazy and exploitative of Ana De Armas and Marilyn Monroe. The gratuity of the sexualization feels like it goes above any sense of exemplary purpose. It's the only film on Netflix to have an NC-17 rating and this was a big talking point closer to its release. I think Gaspar Noè's "Love" was rated R (which if you've seen it you know is definitely worthy of an X rating) on Netflix so... it seems a little gimmicky to lure viewers into watching this with the dangling carrot of pornographic material involving Ana De Armas. Like... what difference does an NC-17 rating over R even have on a streaming service?

The film was technically masterful and the score by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis was excellent.

Overall, it's a film that is a challenge to watch for both intentional and unintentional reasons.

5/10
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