Those sentences are the last ones in my review of The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes, an uneven documentary released early this year (2022). It dealt with the mystery surrounding Monroe’s untimely death. And now, a few months later, we have BLONDE, a fictionalized movie about Monroe’s life, to contend with. Sadly, this latest film is more than her fans can bear, and some of us are speaking out. It’s a movie so bad that I regret seeing all three hours of it.
Although Monroe delivered so many wonderful performances during her acting career and became an iconic star, Blonde emphasizes how she let men sexually and emotionally make her suffer. This hard-to-follow drama is filled with trashy scenes, some more like porn than a mainstream offering. Also, the mixed-up cinematography doesn’t help viewers follow what’s going on. Is it in color or in black-and-white? Yes to both.
While watching BLONDE I felt ashamed
to see Marilyn Monroe maimed.
It’s mostly fiction, but why now?
To bring in profits and take a bow?
I looked for scenes that show her smart.
But those are few and far apart.
Her acting chops get little time.
Is this a movie or a crime?
Will siblings try to lodge complaint?
So many sins are there to paint.
Still, Monroe fans cannot forget
.her brilliance that stays with us yet.
The first time I saw lovely Ana de Armas, who plays Monroe, was in 2016’s Exposed and The Daughter of God, two versions of the same film. What an impressive on-screen presence! During her interactions with a little girl her character wanted to protect from an abusive father, she projected a compelling combination of tenderness and fear.
As Monroe, she’s heavily made-up, of course. Although I admire this young Cuban-born actress in most of her films I’ve seen so far, I was disappointed with her in this role. Maybe she was trying too hard. To be fair, I don’t know anyone who could do justice to portraying Marilyn Monroe. She was one of a kind.
The thin plot centers on Monroe’s (or Norma Jeane’s – her real name) longing to know her father. Lots of vignettes get jumbled together as this surreal movie goes on and on. Lily Fisher is cast as young Norma Jeane and Julianne Nicholson plays the troubled mother. They both deliver emotional performances. Bobby Carnnavale stands out as the jealous ex-baseball idol and Andrew Brody is practically unrecognizable as the famous playwright.
Directed by Andrew Dominik and adapted from a novel by Joyce Carol Oates, Blonde is receiving mixed reviews. If you care -- and if you dare, you will have to see it and make up your own mind.
(Released by Netflix and rated “NC-17,” the first rating of this kind for a Nefflix film)
