Blonde
Director: Andrew Dominik
Genre: Biography, Drama, Romance
Released 28th September 2022
Based on the book of the same name by author Joyce Carol Oates, Australian director Andrew Dominick presents a visually beautiful yet insincere picture of Hollywood icon Marilyn Monroe.
The film covers Marilyn's life from a difficult
childhood and Hollywood career through to her death. Whilst there are facets of
Marilyn's life that are well known, the film chooses to adapt from the novel
several fictional sexual instances, such as the throuple relationship Marilyn
had with Charles Chaplin jr. and Edward Robinson Jr (was rumoured to have
briefly dated both, although not at the same time). Furthering the sexual
interpretation of Marilyn is the inclusion of celling men she is in a romantic
relationship with, "daddy". An aspect that the film connects with
Marilyn's obsession with her absent father.
Blonde visually ranges
from idyllic to insensitive. There are beautiful re-creations of Marilyn's
imagery throughout, like Marilyn in the white dress from The Seven Year Itch
(1955). Where it disappoints is with depicting traumatic subject matter. Multiple
abortion scenes come across as inept and insensitive. As a result, Dominick
curates a specific image of Marilyn without delving in further, producing a
film more interested in a rescue fantasy than fiction.
Whilst Anna de Armas excels as Marilyn with an uncannily
good likeness. It is frustrating that after #MeToo, this is the version of
Marilyn portrayed on screen. Missing is the depiction of the Marilyn, who
turned a nude calendar scandal to her career advantage, was ambitious, and
created a production company to take charge of her career. Marilyn was more
nuanced and intelligent than the world gave her credit for. The complexity of a
woman gone too soon is absent at the expense of a visually stunning story
filled with only beauty, sex, naivety, and unending trauma.
Two stars