The film received polarized reviews from critics and audiences; while de Armas’s performance garnered praise, the fictionalization of Monroe’s life was considered exploitative and the screenplay was criticized. The film is a fictionalized interpretation of the life and career of American actress Marilyn Monroe, played by Ana de Armas. Christy Lemire is a longtime film critic who has written for RogerEbert.com since 2013. All her joyous times are tinged with sadness because we know how this story ends. Sometimes, the sound design is muted—as in her classic performance of “I Wanna Be Loved by You” from “Some Like It Hot”—to indicate the confusion of her inner state. As Marilyn Monroe—or her real name of Norma Jeane, as she’s mostly called in the film—Ana de Armas is asked to cry.
She feels disconnected from her onscreen performance at the film’s premiere, saying it is not her. It is the first NC-17-rated film to be released exclusively to a streaming service. As for the film’s many graphic moments—including one from the perspective of an airplane toilet, as if Marilyn is puking up pills and champagne directly on us—one wonders what the point is. She calls these men “Daddy” in the hope that they’ll function in place of the father she never knew but desperately craved, but in the end, everyone lets her down.
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- In a piece for GQ, Keith Phipps argues that Blonde, being an exception from the commercial stigma of having an NC-17 rating due to its exclusive release on a streaming platform, could usher in a new era of films and filmmakers that will «push beyond the restrictions of the R rating», writing, «In theory, the NC-17 rating could thrive on services like Netflix, Hulu, and HBO Max and Blonde could be a sign of things to come, possibly serving as a cue for other filmmakers to push beyond the restrictions of the R rating.»
- As Norma Jeane begins Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, she receives a letter from a man claiming to be her father.
- In May 2010, it was announced that Naomi Watts would star in the film as Monroe, and that the production, which at this point cost an estimated $20 million, was slated to begin principal photography in January 2011.
- There aren’t any free streaming options for Blonde right now.
She later meets Joe DiMaggio, a retired athlete who sympathizes with her when she expresses her desire to leave Hollywood and become a more serious actress in New York City. Norma Jeane becomes pregnant by Cass, much to her delight, but decides to get an abortion out of fear of the child possibly inheriting her mother’s mental issues. While trying to get a break into the acting world, she is raped by film studio president Mr. Z. In 1951, she auditions for the role of Nell in Don’t Bother to Knock; the audition goes awry when she breaks down and leaves in tears, but impresses the casting director enough to give her the part. Days later, Norma Jeane is sent to an orphanage while Gladys is admitted to a mental hospital, having been declared unfit to raise a child. Norma asks her mother why her father left them, which enraged Gladys, who starts to cry, shout and hit Norma.
Director
And it becomes clear as the movie progresses that they’re the only men who loved her for her true self as Norma Jeane while also appreciating the beguiling artifice of Marilyn. Sometimes, the color palette is faded, as if we’re looking at Marilyn in a long-ago photograph. Following standout supporting turns in movies like “Knives Out” and “No Time to Die,” as well as the delicious trash that was “Deep Water,” here is finally the meaty, leading role that showcases all she can do. She’s doing the breathy, girlish voice, but not perfectly—traces of her Cuban accent are unmistakable—and that’s OK given the film’s unorthodox approach.
Principal photography on the film did not commence, with Dominik later stating he hoped it would be his next film, with production commencing in 2013. In May 2010, it was announced that Naomi Watts would star in the film as Monroe, and that the production, which at this point cost an estimated $20 million, was slated to begin principal photography in January 2011. During a retrospective screening of his Oscar-nominated western The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford blonde on blonde action (2007), Dominik stated, «It’s a different thing for me to do … the main character is female. My films are fairly bereft of women and now I’m imagining what it’s like to be one.»
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Andrew Dominik, who directed the film and served as screenwriter, had begun developing the project as early as 2010, which is an adaptation of the novel Blonde (2000), a fictional and controversial account of Monroe’s life—and a Pulitzer Prize finalist—by Joyce Carol Oates. Shattered by the revelation, Norma Jeane overdoses on barbiturates; as she lies dying on her bed, she has a vision of her father welcoming her to the afterlife. During a read-through, her performance impresses everyone except Miller, but he eventually warms up to her when she gives him some insightful character analysis.
De Armas considered her relationship with Dominik to be the most collaborative of her career, remarking, «Yes, I have had collaborative relationships, but to get phone calls at midnight because he has an idea and he can’t sleep and all of a sudden you can’t sleep for the same reason.» De Armas read Oates’ novel and also said she studied hundreds of photographs, videos, audio recordings, and films. Dominik noticed de Armas’s performance in Knock Knock, and while she went through a long casting process, Dominik secured her the role after the first audition. In March 2019, it was announced that Ana de Armas was in early negotiations to star in the film, replacing Chastain. In June 2012, it was announced Plan B Entertainment would produce the film, with Pitt, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner serving as producers, but Watts’ participation was in question, as «it’s likely that the filmmakers would go in a different direction,» according to the report. During this time, Dominik directed the crime drama Killing Them Softly (2012), starring Brad Pitt, who subsequently became interested in the project.
Development and writing
«We were asking for permission in a way. Everyone felt a huge responsibility, and we were very aware of the side of the story we were going to tell—the story of Norma Jeane, the person behind this character, Marilyn Monroe. Who was she really?», she said. «I think she was happy. She would also throw things off the wall sometimes and get mad if she didn’t like something. Maybe this sounds very mystical, but it is true. We all felt it.» De Armas later told AnOther magazine that everyone in the crew wrote a message to Monroe in a big card, then they went to the cemetery and put it on her grave. During Blonde’s press conference at the 79th Venice Film Festival, Dominik said that the initial scenes of the film were shot in the same apartment where Monroe had lived with her mother. In April 2022, Dominik confirmed that the filming was finished in July 2021, following the shutdowns as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, and that post-production had also been finished.
Two of the boys are blond like their dad. «I don’t think the movie is anti-pro choice. I don’t think it is at all. And I’m not convinced that she actually wants to have a baby. I think she has feelings about not having a baby, but I’m not convinced that what she’s doing – I mean, she doesn’t end up having one. … There’s a wish for baby but there’s a fear of baby, and I think that’s kind of the central stressor on her.» Blonde sparked some controversy when its NC-17 rating (meaning adults only) was confirmed, raising concerns that it would be exploitative in its depiction of Monroe. Regarding her accent, Dominik told Screen Daily in February 2022 that there was «work involved» in making the actress «sound American». Jessie Thompson of The Independent gave the film one star out of five, stating; «Blonde is not a bad film because it is degrading, exploitative and misogynist, even though it is all of those things. It’s bad because it’s boring, pleased with itself and doesn’t have a clue what it’s trying to say.» Writing for Time, Stephanie Zacharek criticized Dominik for allowing «no room for the real-life Marilyn’s multidimensionality», asserting that «Marilyn—the brilliant, perceptive if often difficult performer—is almost nowhere to be seen in Andrew Dominik’s willfully clueless Freudian fantasy Blonde».
On her seventh birthday in 1933, Norma Jeane is given a framed picture of a man which Gladys claims was her father. It began a limited theatrical release in the US on September 16, before its streaming release on September 28 by Netflix. The film plays with shifting aspect ratios and alternates between color and black and white. Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Tracey Landon, Brad Pitt, and Scott Robertson produced the film.
It’s as much a biopic of the film star as “Elvis” is a biopic of Elvis Presley. My personal breaking point was a POV shot from inside Marilyn’s vagina as she was having a forced abortion performed on her. And yet writer/director Andrew Dominik’s film, based on the fictional novel by Joyce Carol Oates, remains technically impeccable throughout, even though it feels like an overlong odyssey at nearly three hours. “Blonde” abuses and exploits Marilyn Monroe all over again, the way so many men did over the cultural icon’s tragic, too-short life.
Speaking on the rating in an interview with Screen Daily, Andrew Dominik stated, «It’s a demanding movie—it is what it is, it says what it says. And if the audience doesn’t like it, that’s the fucking audience’s problem. It’s not running for public office,» adding, «If I look at an episode of Euphoria, it’s far more graphic than anything going on in Blonde». The film itself features graphic scenes of sexual abuse, including a rape scene, as well as Monroe having an abortion, and a miscarriage. Monroe’s official estate defended de Armas’ casting, stating, «Marilyn Monroe is a singular Hollywood and pop culture icon that transcends generations and history. Any actor that steps into that role knows they have big shoes to fill. Based on the trailer alone, it looks like Ana was a great casting choice as she captures Marilyn’s glamour, humanity and vulnerability. We can’t wait to see the film in its entirety!» Actor Casey Affleck also praised the film, stating, «I’ve seen a couple of versions of Blonde and it’s taken him Dominik a long time to get it out into the world. But that’s just how he is. He’s so slow with it. And it’s an amazing, beautiful film.»
- She goes through with filming nonetheless, doing the famous stunt with the white dress.
- Ana de Armas’ luminous performance makes it difficult to look away, but Blonde can be hard to watch as it teeters between commenting on exploitation and contributing to it.
- «I think she was happy. She would also throw things off the wall sometimes and get mad if she didn’t like something. Maybe this sounds very mystical, but it is true. We all felt it.» De Armas later told AnOther magazine that everyone in the crew wrote a message to Monroe in a big card, then they went to the cemetery and put it on her grave.
- Christy Lemire is a longtime film critic who has written for RogerEbert.com since 2013.
- That’s more exciting than the typical biography that plays the greatest hits of a celebrity’s life in formulaic fashion, and “Blonde” is consistently inventive as it toys with both tone and form.
Blonde (2022 film)
It’s basically the story of every human being, but it’s using a certain sense of association that we have with something very familiar, just through media exposure. It tells the story of how a childhood trauma shapes an adult who’s split between a public and a private self. Dominik said that he read several of Monroe’s biographies but that he used very little of this research in the film, adding that Oates’ novel was «pretty much the bible for the film.» Dominik told Vulture that Blonde is «a film that definitely has a morality about it. But it swims in very ambiguous waters because I don’t think it will be as cut-and-dried as people want to see it. There’s something in it to offend everyone.» It turns out to be the stuffed tiger she had found when the three of them were together, and the package also contains a letter from Cass, where he confesses that the letters Norma Jeane has been receiving, supposedly from her father, were actually written by him. Already dazed and drugged, Norma Jeane begins to wonder if this is what being Marilyn Monroe has led to, and she also hallucinates having another abortion before being sent back to her home in Los Angeles.
Blonde is a 2022 American biographical psychological drama film written and directed by Andrew Dominik, based on the 2000 novel by Joyce Carol Oates.
Owen Gleiberman of Variety called de Armas’ work «a performance … of breathtaking shimmer and imagination and candor and heartbreak.» Deadline Hollywood’s Damon Wise stated the film is an «astonishing» way to tell Monroe’s life in a fictional sense, as it is «presented as a horror movie in the surreal, nightmarish style» comparable to the films of David Lynch, especially Mulholland Drive (2001). In an interview with fashion magazine L’Officiel Italia, de Armas echoed the sentiment, saying, «I don’t understand why it happened. I can cite a number of programs or movies that are much more explicit and with a lot more sexual content than Blonde. But to tell this story it’s important to show all those moments in Marilyn’s life that brought her to the end she did. It needs to be explained. In the cast everyone knew we should delve into unpleasant territory, it wasn’t just up to me». «At times, the movie feels like a slaughterhouse seen from the animal’s point of view» wrote Bilge Ebiri in his review for Vulture, remarking on the film’s tendency to elicit strong reactions and emotions from an audience by putting together what he described as a «captivating and terrifying» jigsaw puzzle of Monroe’s life.
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David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter called it «a must-see», yet also «a work of such wild excesses and questionable cruelty». Blonde was controversial among critics and audiences alike and was described as a «complicated, highly divisive film». The film also had a limited theatrical release in New York City that began on September 16, 2022, and in other locations on September 23, 2022. The score was composed and performed by long-time collaborators Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, with the soundtrack album released on September 28, 2022. Dominik was allowed to use the footage after an MGM executive was fired and was replaced by Michael De Luca, who finally gave him permission to use the film clip. Andrew Dominik said that he initially failed to obtain permission from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to use footage from their films, so he had torecreate some scenes, such as the scene with de Armas and Tony Curtis in Some Like It Hot, which he shot with an actor playing Curtis in case he couldn’t get permission to use the original footage.
Certainly, some of this is accurate—the way Hollywood power brokers regarded her as a pretty face and a great ass when she wanted them to consider her a serious actress and love her for her soul. And in nearly every situation, she’s either a pawn or a victim, a fragile angel searching for a father figure to love and protect her. Sometimes it’s a light tear or two as she draws from her traumatic childhood for an acting class exercise. That’s more exciting than the typical biography that plays the greatest hits of a celebrity’s life in formulaic fashion, and “Blonde” is consistently inventive as it toys with both tone and form. It touches on a series of actual, factual events as a road map, from her movies to her marriages.
Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar called Blonde a «great film» and praised Ana de Armas for portraying Monroe in «a chillingly real way.» He later argued that de Armas deserved to win the Best Actress Oscar for her performance. In a very positive review, IGN’s Siddhant Adlakha called the film a «dreamlike fictional biopic about Marilyn Monroe» that features «a stunning, volatile performance from Ana de Armas, whose daring vulnerability is matched by director Andrew Dominik’s equally daring formal approach». Praise was directed towards de Armas’s performance, but the response to the writing and Dominik’s depiction of Monroe’s life polarized critics; some found the film’s spin on the traditional biopic refreshing, while others criticized it as exploitative, sexist, and dehumanizing.
Steph Herold, who researches reproductive health at the University of California at San Francisco and studies abortion depiction in films and television shows, said the scene in which Monroe’s character speaks to the fetus «totally infantilized her in ways that I’ve only seen in anti-abortion propaganda-type movies,» Herold said; «I was pretty shocked by it, especially given the platform and the mainstream quality of this movie.» In a piece for GQ, Keith Phipps argues that Blonde, being an exception from the commercial stigma of having an NC-17 rating due to its exclusive release on a streaming platform, could usher in a new era of films and filmmakers that will «push beyond the restrictions of the R rating», writing, «In theory, the NC-17 rating could thrive on services like Netflix, Hulu, and HBO Max and Blonde could be a sign of things to come, possibly serving as a cue for other filmmakers to push beyond the restrictions of the R rating.» Suzie Kennedy, an English Marilyn Monroe impersonator and historian for over twenty years, openly despised the film, calling it «a terrible movie… an absolute assassination of Marilyn Monroe’s legacy… an assassination of an icon,» and that it «capitalized on and exploited the deep sadness of Marilyn’s life.»
NC-17 rating
A lengthy, extreme close-up of a drugged-up Monroe fellating President Kennedy while he’s on the phone in a hotel room also feels gratuitous and is probably why the film has earned a rare NC-17 rating. She and her sister are both blondes. He’s been a blond his whole life. As an adjective, blond and blonde both describe hair that is yellow or very light brown (“short blond/blonde hair”) and someone who has hair of that color (“three blond/blonde kids”). You can describe this image as either blonde or blond
