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Long, long ago the mythology around Marilyn Monroe surpassed the reality of the human being. Writer-Director Andrew Dominik claims that there are over a thousand books on Monroe (he didn't read them all), instead, he adapted the fictionilized novel by Joyce Carol Oates which bears the same title.
On a bare bones level, BLONDE does follow the basic outline of Monroe's life but Dominik is clearly much more interested in giving an impression of how she both viewed the world, as well as how she was viewed herself. The Director freely mixes Black & White with Color - and employs a variety of aspect ratios to show how scattered and chaotic the Actress' life was. There are flashbacks, imagined events, narration from a character we never see, recreations of Monroe's movies and purposely staged moments to conform with iconic photographs. It's a heady kalediscopic mix, but, it ends up overlong and exhausting.
Fortunately, actress Ana De Armas is able to grab the viewer's attention even if the structure is fragmentary. She may not have the same physical type as the real Monroe, and her accent does slip occassionally, but, it's a raw and committed perfromance. The supporting actors get short shrift because of how splintered the narrative is but Julianne Nicholson as her troubled mother and Toby Huss as Monroe's longtime makeup artist stand out. Chayse Irvin's cinematography is certainly showy as is Florencia Martin's production design. Nick Cave and Warren Ellis' score is top notch.
Where Dominik's vision works best is in creating the duality between “Norma Jean” and “Marilyn”. There are hearbreaking moments where the woman has a hard time seeing where Norma ends and Marilyn begins. It's as if she's pleading with her friends and fans to guide her. In the novel, Oates added a third character, “Blonde” which is to symbolize how her image was an icon all in of itself. Dominik mostly dispatches with this. Wisely so. It's an intellectual subject for a novel's depth not a dramatic screenplay. Of course, the metaphor is there to see, but, it's never formally delved into.
When the movie is about the Norman/Marilyn dicotomy it registers. Unfortunately, Dominik's surface treatment is swamped by style so excessive it makes BLONDE feel hollow. By depriving the woman of a true fleshed out life story, Dominik robs her of her history. Her inner life. Her very being. The biographical details are almost all relentlessly negative from her abusive mother to the casting couch to her failed marriages with the violent Joe DiMaggio (Bobby Cannavale in a thankless role) and the too intellectual Arthur Miller (a solid Adrien Brody) which gave her feelings of inadequecy to the one-sided tryst with JFK (Caspar Phillipson). It's significant that the one truly happy relationship she has is a highly speculative threeway with the sons of Charlie Chaplin (Xavier Samuel) and Edward G. Robinson (Evan Williams). More fiction.
Unwittingly, Dominik turns Norma into “Marilyn” -- Or, even more generically -- that “Blonde” sex symbol.
On a bare bones level, BLONDE does follow the basic outline of Monroe's life but Dominik is clearly much more interested in giving an impression of how she both viewed the world, as well as how she was viewed herself. The Director freely mixes Black & White with Color - and employs a variety of aspect ratios to show how scattered and chaotic the Actress' life was. There are flashbacks, imagined events, narration from a character we never see, recreations of Monroe's movies and purposely staged moments to conform with iconic photographs. It's a heady kalediscopic mix, but, it ends up overlong and exhausting.
Fortunately, actress Ana De Armas is able to grab the viewer's attention even if the structure is fragmentary. She may not have the same physical type as the real Monroe, and her accent does slip occassionally, but, it's a raw and committed perfromance. The supporting actors get short shrift because of how splintered the narrative is but Julianne Nicholson as her troubled mother and Toby Huss as Monroe's longtime makeup artist stand out. Chayse Irvin's cinematography is certainly showy as is Florencia Martin's production design. Nick Cave and Warren Ellis' score is top notch.
Where Dominik's vision works best is in creating the duality between “Norma Jean” and “Marilyn”. There are hearbreaking moments where the woman has a hard time seeing where Norma ends and Marilyn begins. It's as if she's pleading with her friends and fans to guide her. In the novel, Oates added a third character, “Blonde” which is to symbolize how her image was an icon all in of itself. Dominik mostly dispatches with this. Wisely so. It's an intellectual subject for a novel's depth not a dramatic screenplay. Of course, the metaphor is there to see, but, it's never formally delved into.
When the movie is about the Norman/Marilyn dicotomy it registers. Unfortunately, Dominik's surface treatment is swamped by style so excessive it makes BLONDE feel hollow. By depriving the woman of a true fleshed out life story, Dominik robs her of her history. Her inner life. Her very being. The biographical details are almost all relentlessly negative from her abusive mother to the casting couch to her failed marriages with the violent Joe DiMaggio (Bobby Cannavale in a thankless role) and the too intellectual Arthur Miller (a solid Adrien Brody) which gave her feelings of inadequecy to the one-sided tryst with JFK (Caspar Phillipson). It's significant that the one truly happy relationship she has is a highly speculative threeway with the sons of Charlie Chaplin (Xavier Samuel) and Edward G. Robinson (Evan Williams). More fiction.
Unwittingly, Dominik turns Norma into “Marilyn” -- Or, even more generically -- that “Blonde” sex symbol.
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