I saw “Blonde” and, I was shocked by what I saw. I didn't like it. How is it possible to make a film about a symbol of a generation, of a century and this film be so disrespectful to this symbol? The argument that is based on is the book by Joyce Carol Oates, and according to what I read, i's a fictional work of the life of Marilyn Monroe.
I must say that when the movie came out, I was thrilled with the possibility of seeing a movie about her. I was looking forward to and happy that Nick Cave had done the soundtrack. The production company is the producer of the movie “Moonlight” that I loved and other great movies. Everything indicated that it would be a film that would please me. Rumors, and attempts to understand Marilyn's life, all shrouded in mystery, could be part of the argument and finally clarify doubts about her. What is known is that she had problems all her life, problems that end up bringing her closer to us because despite being an icon, she was also human. Much has been written about what happened, and an enigma was created around her that makes us adore her even more. Marilyn Monroe is an idolized woman, even in 2022.
The film took 12 years to produce. Andrew Dominik was the chosen director. The fiction of the book is worth to be the genesis of the movie, but is a libertarian fiction based on the life of Marilyn Monroe worth the argument of a movie with her name? Realizing that the film shocked half the world and defending it by saying that, deep down, what is in the film is not quite what happened? It could even pass, the argument rambles on, inventing events, creating scenes of extreme madness, but as long as the author of this film doesn't do it on behalf of Marilyn Monroe. It is an unrealistic version where the insanity of the director, who is the screenwriter, is confused with Marilyn's struggle to scare away her demons and above all, our subjugation to unbearable scenes. He abuses Marilyn, and he abuses all of us who love the actress — a timeless celebrity. It is a disgraceful, misogynistic, humiliating, inhumane, merciless, deplorable film — of a screaming low level. You can be sure that the words I felt like writing are much more graphic than “low level”. What the film does is try to trivialize and trample on the memory of a diva who is not among us to defend herself. An attack on the integrity of her name.
I think it would be a good movie if there was a different approach from the director and, of course, the removal of some unreal and insane scenes. I start with what I liked, which was little: Ana de Armas' performance, which was amazing, the cinematography was also good with the changes of color and the scene where Joe DiMaggio gets enraged and climbs the stairs, and little else. It was painful to see the movie through to the end.
The beginning of the film even seemed to have some content with the relationship with her mother, who has psychiatric problems that result in her being hospitalized and subsequently going to the orphanage, which is very touching and the despair of little Norma Jean Baker is felt. Now all the mystique surrounding the absent father that lasts the entire film is too much, even if, it may have some truth, it is repeated and repeated, both in his imagination and in her relationships. It's painful to see this focus that only gives Marilyn, in the film, the perception of living her whole life in the shadow of an absent father. She tried to talk to him several times, it's true, but in the movie, it turns out to be unbearable to see reality embedded in the hallucinations. Despite everything, she managed to overcome and reach the stardom.
The freedom with which Dominik deals with the “alleged” rape of Marilyn by Darryl F. Zanuck (before the film “All About Eve”, which I recommend and is on my blog), is dizzyingly light and tasteless. He drops her panties, she continues to recite the script, and he violates her, and we watch this event, this “fait-divers” that finally ends with her crying — the only moment in which she is, ultimately, treated as a human being by the director. She reported that she was a victim of sexual abuse at a young age and got married at 16 to escape the instability of the life she had in orphanages and outside them. She suffered a lot and still managed to emerge and dominate a man-made world.
I must say that I didn't understand anything about the three-way relationship that is developed with Marilyn, Charles Chaplin Jr and Edward G. Robinson Jr. The love triangle is a big part of the film, which must not have happened - being an invention of the director, and is, in my view, very uninteresting. He ends up highlighting an openness of spirit and freedom about her sex life, which puts her far ahead of her time, even so, reduces Marilyn to her symbolism and sex choices. Not even Nick Cave's music saves the story of this trio under the stars
The case of abortions is another completely unreal theme in the film. Marilyn Monroe is the only woman who is just a few months pregnant with the "Massive Attack" baby in her belly. It was shocking to see how he portrayed them, propagating a cruel and insensitive image giving real shape to the babies she aborts. The scene where she thinks she's done well when she's getting a standing ovation for a movie is unprecedentedly evil. How was he able to get those thoughts into her head? There were indeed many miscarriages in Marilyn's life, she suffered from endometriosis, lost many spontaneously, and had an ectopic pregnancy. With age and her marriage, when she finally felt good about her life, she wanted to have a family, but she couldn't. The director's approach was horrible and shocking, a tragic “mise-en-scène” — the speech, the excessive blood, the blame… (if she was forced to in the first one, what's her fault?)
Marilyn Monroe was considered a “sex Symbol” at the time, but the approach to the skirt that lifts in the wind scene in “The Seven-year Itch” is agonizing. It's too slow, the men there have their lips and tongues slack obscenely, and once again it reduces Marilyn to her symbol. It is pointless, we start to see underwear in all shapes and forms. An uninteresting scene. Marilyn indeed knew how to dominate the world thanks to her beauty, but also to her vulnerability. The roles they gave her in the movies took advantage of her appearance. The original 1955 scene is much better.
Substance abuse on Marilyn's part is very focused on the film and was the cause of her death. In these years we have lost many artists, who had everything, because of substance abuse, some even derived from mental health problems. It is something that unfortunately is recurrent and it is necessary to draw attention to these problems. In the film, she is treated a bit like a "mad woman", there is no compassion for her, and the drug use is more focused on emphasizing her “dementia” than her inability to solve her problems without them. She was in agony, few realize it, and he came across as a cold, angry, callous, bossy star.
The “blowjob” to President John Fitzgerald Kennedy... Well, what to say about this scene... needless. Apparently, in the movie, she was used by the president when he felt like it, she obeyed JFK. Apparently, she was forced to do so and raped by him. Andrew Dominik, who is the director, knows what Marilyn was thinking when she had the president's “thing” in her mouth because she's afraid of what he might think of her performance. Wasn't she the most desired woman in the world at the time!? I didn't like this scene at all. Of course, Marilyn had sex, we all do, we know how it is, but to pass on this image of her over there? The director also used her against his will. Marilyn is more than that. I confess that I was no longer looking at Marilyn Monroe, but at Ana de Armas doing this “blowjob”. It was the end of the film and it was the last straw, my patience was running out, and tired of everything, Marilyn came out of my imagination and became a pornographic movie for me.
There were good things, it's true, especially the excerpts from Marilyn's films with her. It was the best in the movie.
Dominik's narrative was inelegant, he used the name Marilyn Monroe to make a film in which he objectified her as a woman who had nothing of interest but her body, her obsessions, and her dependence. He abused her like all the men he reported on in the movie.
Dominik's narrative was inelegant, he used the name Marilyn Monroe to make a film in which he objectified her as a woman who had nothing of interest but her body, her obsessions, and her dependence. He abused her like all the men he reported on in the movie.
Marilyn Monroe struggled to improve her life and put an end to everything that involved her childhood. She starts posing to earn money and pay bills. The cinema shyly opens up to her, and little by little, her stunning hair begins to be noticed in the excerpts where she appears. She turns out to be an icon, a sex symbol, and the most coveted actress of her generation. She took advantage of the fame, and the success, even if, it was sometimes too much for her.
The mystery continues, and her name still arouses great interest around the world, so much so that films and documentaries, good or bad, are made that keep her flame alive. I didn't like “Blonde”, I'm waiting for the next one, and I will continue to share her films on my blog.
Love you, Marilyn!
I leave some of Andrew Dominik's comments about Marilyn Monroe.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blonde_(2022_film)
https://www.joblo.com/blonde-director-in-hot-water-over-marilyn-monroe-quotes/
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