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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. ( Evan Williams) brings a welcome vibe of fun and frolic they’re both beautiful and flirtatious, smoldering and seductive. It’s all thrilling for a while, and de Armas strikes a magnetic figure as the young Marilyn in both her vulnerability and her ambition.Īn imagined three-way romance with Charlie Chaplin Jr. 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. Sometimes, the color palette is faded, as if we’re looking at Marilyn in a long-ago photograph. It’s Los Angeles 1933, and young Norma Jeane (a poised and heartbreaking Lily Fisher) is enduring horrific physical and emotional abuse from her volatile and hyperverbal mother (a haunting Julianne Nicholson, always great).ĭominik (“ The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford”) proclaims his restless style from the beginning-jumping around not just in time, but from high-contrast black and white to rich Technicolor and in between various aspect ratios. Shadows and ethereal snippets of score mix with ash from a fire in the Hollywood hills blowing through the night sky. Working with cinematographer Chayse Irivn (“ BlacKkKlansman,” Beyonce’s “Lemonade”) and frequent musical collaborators Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, Dominik sets the scene with impressionistic wisps of sight and sound. “Blonde” is a fever dream from the very start. She’s so good that she makes you wish the role rose to her level. 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. More importantly, she captures Monroe’s spirit, and often looks uncannily like her. 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. De Armas gives it her all in every moment she’s so captivating, so startling, that you long for the part to provide her the opportunity to show more of Marilyn’s depth, to dig deeper than the familiar cliches. 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.Ĭertainly, 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.

Frequently, she’s both, as well as bloody.

Usually, it’s heaving sobs as the cumulative weight of mental illness and addiction takes its toll. Sometimes it’s a light tear or two as she draws from her traumatic childhood for an acting class exercise. By the end, though, this approach feels overwhelming and even a little dreary.Īs Marilyn Monroe-or her real name of Norma Jeane, as she’s mostly called in the film- Ana de Armas is asked to cry. 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. But ultimately, it’s a fantasia of fame, which increasingly becomes a hellscape.

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It touches on a series of actual, factual events as a road map, from her movies to her marriages. It’s as much a biopic of the film star as “ Elvis” is a biopic of Elvis Presley. What you have to understand from the start is that “Blonde” is an exploration of the idea of Marilyn Monroe. 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.ĭid any of this really happen? Maybe. My personal breaking point was a POV shot from inside Marilyn’s vagina as she was having a forced abortion performed on her. The craftsmanship on display presents another conundrum: “Blonde” is riveting, even mesmerizing, but eventually you’ll want to turn your eyes away as this lurid display becomes just too much. Maybe that’s the point, but it creates a maddening paradox: condemning the cruelty the superstar endured until her death at 36 while also reveling in it.Īnd 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.

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