Before getting into the actual review I have to state that if it is true that parts of this movie are fabricated then Andrew Dominik the director does not deserve another job. I understand that this movie is more or less based on the book Blonde, but that does not excuse the fact that putting fabrications in a movie that is supposed to be about a historical person’s life is disgusting and just morally gross. There are other ways to make a movie more “entertaining and riveting” than not telling the truth about someone else’s life. However, I had already watched the movie before seeing these allegations, and I can’t deny that it is a good movie.
Blonde is the story of Marilyn Monroe’s life from childhood to death. We start when Marilyn (Ana de Armas as adult Marilyn) is still Norma Jeane (Lily Fisher as young Marilyn) and living with her mother, who has some severe mental health issues. She tells Norma Jeane about her father and how amazing he is, and that he will save them. I really think that kind of inspired her obsession with her dad that she has, believing that he is writing to her and all of the excuses he is making about why he hasn’t come to see her. And why she calls all of her partners daddy, because she feels saved by them because she is able to be Norma Jean and she doesn’t have to be Marilyn Monroe. That is what the whole movie is about, the differences between Norma Jean and Marilyn Monroe. Marilyn is the personality that can deal with all the abuse, can put on a happy face when everything is falling apart around her.
This movie goes back and forth between being black and white vs. color. I feel that whenever it was in black and white, it was Marilyn Monroe and whenever it was in color it was Norma Jeane. The first black and white scene is when she is being dropped off at the orphanage, and that set the tone for the black and white scenes moving forward. Any scene where Norma Jeane believes she is in danger or where she knew she might be hurt she would “turn on” her Marilyn Monroe personality because Norma couldn’t handle anymore pain after what happened to her as a kid. Vice versa, when she felt comfortable to actually be herself, the movie would be in color representing that it was actually Norma Jeane. I wouldn’t say this realization is perfect, as I think it could be argued that it was just a stylistic choice because of the pictures that were the source materials for this movie, however I do believe that you can fit each scene into this belief and it works and it definitely helps understand the movie better.
I believe that if this movie would’ve been more loyal to Marilyn Monroe’s life and telling the story of an intelligent and amazing artist who only gets attention as being a sex symbol rather than enforcing that belief that that is all she was then Ana de Armas would be in contention for a best actress award. For what she was given, she absolutely killed this role. I was put on notice about Ana de Armas when I watched Knives Out and have known how amazing of an actress she is since then, but even this performance surprised me. With no other real co-star playing large parts, she carries this movie all by herself and if it wasn’t for her ability to take any character she gets and play them to perfection this movie would be in the toilet. If another director wants to make a truer portrayal of Marilyn Monroe, they should be begging for Ana de Armas to reprise the role because I don’t know another actress who would be able to do such an amazing job, while being willing to do more scandalous scenes. Ana was basically playing two different characters in this movie and not once did I think she strayed from either’s personality, values, and character. I can’t say this is a bad movie, but with what this movie should have been, I can say that it wasted an oscar worthy performance from Ana de Armas.
This might be one of the hardest movies to rate for me. Trying to keep emotion while rating a movie that I would consider good, but has so many issues because of what it should be, rather than what it is, is very hard. The enjoyability ranking will reflect more of what I actually feel about the movie, but keeping with the whole reason I created Enjoying Film, I have to give this movie its fair rating.
7.7/10☆
3.4/10😁
If you want to watch Ana de Armas put on a master class on acting, I would recommend other movies before this, but I can’t deny the stellar performance that Ana puts on in this movie. However, between the straight up just uncomfortableness of this movie, and the fictionalized parts of what should be a nonfiction telling of a person’s life this movie is just not one I would suggest watching, unless I’m pointing out movies to watch to see where Hollywood fails. I did not know much about Marilyn Monroe heading into this movie, and now after watching it I’m more so confused about what is and isn’t true and I shouldn’t have to ask that after watching a movie that is supposed to be a biography of a real person’s life. What Andrew Dominik and Joyce Carol Oates, the writer of the book Blonde, did here is absolutely disgusting and I think we also have to look at Netflix and what happened there because how could they sign off on such a disgusting abuse of facts.
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