Blonde Netflix Movie Review

Blonde (2022)

Watch Blonde on Netflix // Buy the book (paid link)
Written by: Andrew Dominik (written for the screen by), Joyce Carol Oates (based on the novel by)
Directed by: Andrew Dominik
Starring: Ana de Armas, Lily Fisher, Julianne Nicholson
Rated: NC-17
Watch the trailer

Plot
A fictionalized chronicle of the inner life of Marilyn Monroe.

Verdict
The way and the parts of Monroe's life this fictionalizes objectifies her in a similar way to how characters in the movie objectify her. The movie is not factually accurate, amplifying and increasing her pain and trauma while making her one dimensional.
Artistically this movie is stunning from the mix of color and grayscale to the overall look, but the way this handles the subject matter is unsettling. This movie isn't really about Monroe, though it purports to be. This wants to point out the adversity women face by amplifying that same adversity and putting it on the screen in  graphic detail. That makes the message I think this movie wants to make a bit disingenuous.
It depends.

Review
This movie is an examination of trauma and abuse. It's not a strict biopic of Marilyn Monroe as this adds a lot of trauma that can't be verified. Really, the movie seems to examine the question of why would one of America's top movie stars kill themselves at the height of their fame. Monroe's name is added to sell tickets.

This starts with Monroe, then Norma Jean, as a child. This provides the foundation for her basis of wanting approval from an absent father and abusive mother. There's no way her childhood doesn't create trust issues, though that's not explored in the movie. A photo montage transitions to adult Marilyn Monroe (Ana de Armas) now a pin up model. She's treated like an object. Initially the movie seems to present the idea that the patriarchy in charge of Hollywood dismisses a pretty woman as just an object and a less traditionally attractive woman as having nothing to offer.

Ana de Armas plays Marilyn Monroe

An hour in this movie is a rumination on Monroe's life, a collection of scenes and recorded moments. This isn't a continuous narrative. There is the division between Marilyn Monroe a marketing fiction and Norma Jean who must act like this created fantasy. Everyone wants to be a part of the fantasy, but they don't see the pain and trauma behind it. Any idea she has is discounted. She craves approval but is dismissed or regarded only as an object.

As this movie continues it becomes indulgent in how it presents her life. The story's inspiration is fact, but many scenes we see are misleading when this movie appears to be a biopic. While the movie's plot states it's fiction, it's never clear what is fact and fiction. This makes her life more sensational and more tragic. It torments the character for effect. There wasn't a poly-amorous relationship with Chaplin and Robinson, and that's just the start of things that didn't actually happen as depicted.

What is the movie's goal? At times it acknowledges how terribly she was treated as a woman in the time period, an object ogle. Then the movie fictionalizes aspects of her life to objectify her. This is a story about pain and misery. The movie makes the traumatic parts worse or adds to it.

She refers to both her husbands Joe DiMaggio and Arthur Miller as "daddy." In the moment it feels worse than it sounds. There is some amount of truth to that at least, but this is the movie purporting these men were an attempt to fill the role of her missing father.

Ana de Armas plays Marilyn Monroe

I wasn't sure the rational for scenes in color or black and white as the movie seems to alternate senselessly. Director Dominik shared in an interview that there wasn't a rational, but I would guess the color of scenes likely relates to photos of Monroe from the time period so that the images could be recreated as they were commonly seen. It's certainly the reason for the aspect ratio. The presentation adds to the dreamlike quality of the narrative as this isn't a strictly continuous narrative.

Two hours in and with yet an hour left this gets a bit long. It's an artistic achievement, but I don't like it. It's so focused on trauma, distorting the facts to that end. Reducing the person to an object while also calling that a problem is disingenuous. The movie, and I would guess the book that serves as inspiration, uses Marilyn to provide a shorthand for the narrative. That creates a problem when both just want to use Marilyn's sex appeal as the basis for the story. A movie about an exploited figure exploits her. That's the root of the problem. Monroe led a tragic life and the movie piles on to add to that tragedy. The movie could just as easily highlight the discrimination of the time while still giving Monroe agency.