Since she is well-known, Marilyn Monroe conjures up images of a self-assured sex icon whose life story has been the topic of numerous biopics and books. A lot has also been said about the writer-director Andrew Dominik's NC-17 Netflix drama Blonde, which reimagines some elements of the actress' life while adapting the Marily Monroe story from Joyce Carol Oates' novel. It's fiction, but there are a few noteworthy passages that allude to Monroe's tragic experience of male abuse. While Ana de Armas gives a stirring performance, Blonde is more concerned with the sorrow and pain that Norma Jeane Mortensen through than it is with her life.
Ana de Armas plays Norma Jeane, widely known to the world as Marilyn Monroe, as she experiences many phases of her life. Blonde starts with Norma Jeane's early years in Los Angeles in the 1930s. Norma Jeane lived with her mother Gladys (Julianne Nicholson) before she was discovered to have paranoid schizophrenia, which caused Norma Jeane to spend time in an orphanage before going on to become a pin-up model and actress. In order to focus on Norma Jeane's period as an actress, where she is shown being raped by a studio executive during an audition, Dominik jumps ahead in time and ignores her previous marriage.
Her second and third marriages to writer Arthur Miller (Adrien Brody) and Joe DiMaggio (Bobby Cannavale as the Ex-Athlete) are both depicted in the movie. By the time she was an adult, Norma Jeane had developed a Marilyn Monroe persona for herself, and she frequently appeared doing so. When Norma Jeane is not in the spotlight, on the other hand, viewers see her at her most emotionally exposed as they witness the various traumas she endured.
The cinematography in Blonde effortlessly transitions between colour and black and white, while Ana de Armas captures the audience's attention with her wide-eyed expressions and genuinely kind nature. The movie does an excellent job of demonstrating exactly how little others thought of Marilyn Monroe and herself, yet there are times when her intelligence comes through. De Armas portrays these sequences quite well, but the movie is too focused on the unending physical and mental suffering to dive farther. Blonde distinguishes between Marilyn Monroe and Norma Jeane, regarding the latter as a cover for the former.
Blonde is also blatantly anti-feminist, particularly in how it portrays abortion. It uses sequences where a foetus in the womb is speaking to Monroe to weaponize her guilt and anguish, and it's ludicrous, pointless, and aggravating all at once. Every scene is made to make Norma Jeane appear and act diminutive, reducing her to the point where she is only known for the mistreatment she endured at the hands of men. It's a hollow representation that appears designed more for exploitation than exploration. In a movie that is more unnerving than it is smart in its portrayal of Marilyn Monroe, the constant trauma is needlessly prolonged out because there isn't much else going on in the tale.
Ana de Armas plays Norma Jeane, widely known to the world as Marilyn Monroe, as she experiences many phases of her life. Blonde starts with Norma Jeane's early years in Los Angeles in the 1930s. Norma Jeane lived with her mother Gladys (Julianne Nicholson) before she was discovered to have paranoid schizophrenia, which caused Norma Jeane to spend time in an orphanage before going on to become a pin-up model and actress. In order to focus on Norma Jeane's period as an actress, where she is shown being raped by a studio executive during an audition, Dominik jumps ahead in time and ignores her previous marriage.
Her second and third marriages to writer Arthur Miller (Adrien Brody) and Joe DiMaggio (Bobby Cannavale as the Ex-Athlete) are both depicted in the movie. By the time she was an adult, Norma Jeane had developed a Marilyn Monroe persona for herself, and she frequently appeared doing so. When Norma Jeane is not in the spotlight, on the other hand, viewers see her at her most emotionally exposed as they witness the various traumas she endured.
The cinematography in Blonde effortlessly transitions between colour and black and white, while Ana de Armas captures the audience's attention with her wide-eyed expressions and genuinely kind nature. The movie does an excellent job of demonstrating exactly how little others thought of Marilyn Monroe and herself, yet there are times when her intelligence comes through. De Armas portrays these sequences quite well, but the movie is too focused on the unending physical and mental suffering to dive farther. Blonde distinguishes between Marilyn Monroe and Norma Jeane, regarding the latter as a cover for the former.
Blonde is also blatantly anti-feminist, particularly in how it portrays abortion. It uses sequences where a foetus in the womb is speaking to Monroe to weaponize her guilt and anguish, and it's ludicrous, pointless, and aggravating all at once. Every scene is made to make Norma Jeane appear and act diminutive, reducing her to the point where she is only known for the mistreatment she endured at the hands of men. It's a hollow representation that appears designed more for exploitation than exploration. In a movie that is more unnerving than it is smart in its portrayal of Marilyn Monroe, the constant trauma is needlessly prolonged out because there isn't much else going on in the tale.
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