User reviews

If you're going to fictionalize the life of one of the movie icons of the 20th century why go there, to the darkest dark. There are some "invented" moments that are, quite frankly, unforgivable. What kept me glued to the screen was Ana de Armas. A tremendous show of talent and fearlessness. I was wondering what the experience would have been to watch it in a theater with other people? I don't know because in the privacy of my own home I was free to stand up and walk away to pour myself a drink and shout at the screen. The awful Kennedy episode for instance. Why? That episode in particular made me question the intention of the filmmakers. So, yes, I can say now that I've seen it. Loved some it and detested some it.

"Blonde" is sadly reduced to the collective tragedies (and horrors) that the iconic actress went through in her short 36-year-old life. Don't get me wrong, Ana de Armas totally owns the role and gives it her all (God bless her cheekbones!). She also gets worthwhile support from the cinematography, production design, costume, and make-up departments. The biggest letdown is the script that heavily lacks connective tissue between what feels like various disjointed episodes in Monroe's life. Again, each of these episodes are stripped down to repetitive plot-points such as the absentee father, the abortions, the failed marriages, and most importantly, the male gaze.

Writer-director Andrew Dominik perceives Marilyn Monroe and Norma Jeane as two distinct personas, the former being a glowy, on-screen cover-up for the distressed latter. Again, because the film is only interested in showcasing the worst of her life, as viewers, we feel disconnected early on, especially given the film goes on for a butt-numbing 160 minutes. Also, I didn't particularly like the transition between black & white and color bang in the middle of certain scenes. What was the underlying point? The film basically leaves Armas to do most of the heavy lifting since the script only attempts to look at her as an object of desire.

Of course, there are more than a few controversial stretches in the film, and if that's barring a scene with a speaking foetus, then I'm probably dreaming it all up. This isn't what Norma would've wanted to be seen as her "legacy", and both entries Netflix has come up with thus far on Marilyn Monroe (yes, I'm looking at you The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes) are lacklustre.

What a truly disappointing film this is. It offers us a really slow, sterile and disjointed - almost episodic - depiction of just how Marilyn Monroe's life might have panned out. For a start, I couldn't decide whether Ana de Armas was really Lady Gaga or Scarlett Johansson (both of whom would have acquitted themselves better, I'd say) as she offers an admittedly intense, but remarkably uninvolved performance. We move along from chapter to chapter in her life hindered by some fairly weak and uninspiring dialogue and seriously intrusive scoring in what becomes an increasingly shallow and lacklustre fashion. The photography does try hard - it does offer us a sense of intimacy, but the whole thing is presented in such a stylised and un-natural manner that it is frequently difficult to tell whether she is/was a "real" woman. Her marriages are treated in an almost scant manner - and her relationship with JFK is reduced to something rather implausibly one-sided and sordid showing nothing of how their relationship might have come to be. It has no soul, this film. Aside from her glamour - which was, even then, hardly unique we are not really introduced to any of the nuances of her character, we are left guessing a lot of the time as to just how she did become such a superstar, and how she spiralled so inevitably into a maelstrom of booze and pills. It relies to a considerable extent on the viewer's existing knowledge of, and affection for, this flawed lady. Adrien Brody and Bobby Cannavale don't really have much chance to add anything as her husbands and the highly speculative relationship between her and Charlie Chaplin Jnr (Xavier Samuel) and his sexually ambiguous partner-in-crime Edward G Robinson Jr (Scoot McNairy) does suggest something of the rather profligate and debauched existence that some lived in Hollywood, but again their characters are also largely undercooked and again, we are largely left to use our own imagination. It is far, far too long and in a packed cinema, I could see people looking at the ceiling just once too often. Watchable, certainly, but a real missed opportunity to offer us something scintillating and tantalising about this most of iconic of women.

Okay there are movies that are bad because they are poorly made or low budget or can't afford good talent. This is a movie that should have known better, with the big studio, budget, and access to talent it's truly shocking how dehumanizing and awful this movie is. I can't tell if its supposed to be a parody or if it's trying to be serious. Most of the characters are poorly cast. I don't know how this is getting awards buzz. Yea! Ana De Armas can hit emotional peaks in her acting, but does it fit the character in reality? She knows what she shouldn't know. There's no real journey beyond fantasy, the character and the actress already know what's going to happen from the beginning of the film. She plays Marilyn like a naïve passive doll, with zero self-awareness. Was this actually who Marilyn was? Also she clearly has a Cuban accent. Which contributes to me wondering if this is supposed to be some kind of meta voyeuristic film that's combining two worlds: that of Marilyn, and the reality of the "film" in itself in the actress "playing" her. I don't know what this movie is trying to be. Is it a dream? Why is there so much exploitation? Where is the humanity? Its like a broken purgatory of one woman's hell. Hollywood has a bad history of exploiting people but this movie really is another level of awful in patting itself on the back. It's like the movie is having a beer with Hollywood's exploitive casting couch past.

She is a prop in this movie, her body is at the hands of all these men. Marilyn is being assaulted from the grave and robbed of her true voice. Music and cinematography are only positive things in my opinion. I really wonder if any of these actors ever stopped and asked themselves why am I doing this? What am I really contributing to humanity in this film? What is the purpose? My guess is... vanity and a paycheck. Also the model looking guys she enters the three way with in the film are not that attractive in real life! Not only did they embellish and fictionalize an affair but they made the men look like well groomed models. Films like this put fissures in the reality of the real world. We can't escape darkness when films like this cover it with a mask.

Greetings again from the darkness. For those who have studied Marilyn Monroe's personal and professional life, writer-director Andrew Dominik's (first feature film since KILLING THEM SOFTLY, 2012) interpretative adaptation of the 2000 novel by Joyce Carol Oates may send them into the early stages of shock. In fact, regardless of one's level of knowledge of the details of Marilyn's background, shock and bewilderment are likely reactions. It should be made clear for all viewers that it's a fictionalized account of her life, not a true biography. One should also know that this is cinematic artistic mastery to complement an incredibly in-depth and revolutionary performance from Ana de Armas (KNIVES OUT, 2019, NO TIME TO DIE, 2021).

At times, the film is surreal, while at others, downright hallucinatory. It's certainly never boring. However, it's a disturbing beatdown and a grueling watch for a single sitting at close to three hours long. The film begins in 1933 with a young Norma Jeane (Lily Fisher) living in poverty and misery with her single mom Gladys (a terrific Julianne Nicholson). Mom has obvious mental issues and would much prefer Norma Jeane not be around. It's here where the 'Daddy issues' take hold - issues that stick with the girl for the remainder of her life. After being rejected by her father, her mother, and the friendly neighbors, Norma Jeane ends up in an orphanage. A montage takes us through her teenage modeling years, where we see the beginnings of her being taken advantage of and treated as a commodity.

There is an extended sequence involving the threesome of Marilyn and the sons of Hollywood legends Charlie Chaplin and Edward G Robinson (Xavier Samuel, Evan Williams, respectively), and a vicious rape scene with a studio head "Mr. Z" (hmmm). Marilyn's first pregnancy leads to an abortion, which is the first of a few tragedies she will experience - and director Dominik finds an entirely new (and bizarre) method of filming these occurrences. The Joe DiMaggio (Bobby Cannavale) and Arthur Miller (Oscar winner Adrien Brody) marriages are noted, yet the men go unnamed, instead referred to as "former athlete" and "playwright" ... as if somehow that will trick us.

Of course, all of these relationships are right in line with her "Daddy issues" ... Marilyn even goes so far as to call these men "Daddy", in hopes that one will finally give her the love and acceptance she so craves. One of the more uncomfortable scenes (and that's saying something) involves her tryst with JFK (also unnamed), played by Caspar Phillipson, whose uncanny resemblance to the former President has resulted in his casting for the role in multiple projects. It's likely this White House moment, replete with Marilyn's inner voice, is responsible for the film's NC-17 rating.

Dominik and cinematographer Chase Irvin recreate some of the most memorable film moments from Marilyn's career ... including the subway vent scene from THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH. After capturing that film magic, the sequence seems to drag on with leering onlookers and what proved to be the final straw with DiMaggio. A recurring feature involves Marilyn receiving and reading letters from the father she's never met - including promises of meeting "soon." The payoff for this is disappointing for us and for her.

Perhaps the main point of Dominik's movie is the enormous gulf and psychological contrast between Norma Jeane, the eternally-scarred young girl, and Marilyn Monroe, the iconic bombshell she created for public consumption. There is a sadness about her most of the time, even when she flips that switch to become Marilyn - the familiar sultress adored by so many. Toby Huss plays Whitey, a version of real-life Allan Snyder, who was Marilyn's long-time make-up artist and confidant. Her famous diary gets a mention, and we see the price she paid for taking drugs to calm anxiety while dealing with the crushing weight of fame.

Ana de Armas delivers a performance for the ages. Of course, the scrutiny she will face playing one of the most famous women of all-time will be senselessly nitpicky, yet from an artistic standpoint, her work is supreme. Costume Designer Jennifer Johnson somehow manages to nail the different stages, films, and moods (of both the film and its subject). Is this exploiting the woman who made a career out of being exploited? Or is it simply telling a story? Norma Jeane was a fragile creature constantly victimized as she desperately searched for love. Has the filmmaker continued that abuse with this vision? From a moviemaking aspect, it's' a thing of beauty. From a human perspective, it's torturous to watch. If you are in need of a 'feel-good' movie, keep searching. On the other hand, if you are in the mood for the work of a cinematic visionary and one of the best acting performances of the year, settle in.

Opens on Netflix September 23, 2022.

Marilyn Monroe was a great artist and this movie could've been a great opportunity to teach younger audiences about who she was. But for some reason, they decide to tell a fictional story. She has the same name, plays in the same movies, and sings the same songs, but many events are made up. It's so misleading when movies do this. It's not a movie about Marilyn Monroe, it's a movie about a mentally ill actress. Monroe was more than a mentally ill sex symbol. She was intelligent and a great artist - which doesn't come across in this movie.

Ana de Armas is okay in the movie. She looks and sounds like Monroe, but she is naked for an uncomfortable amount of time in the movie. It's not just the fact that she's naked, but she's naked for no apparent reason. If her being naked adds nothing to the story you might as well let her put some clothes on.

Ana de armas gave an inspiring performance and she really acted her heart out. The story and it's execution was a masterpiece at places and the cinematography and aesthetics were on a new level. As I don't know that much about marlyn I don't actually care how they portrayed her. The main accomplishment of the film is that it shows the horrors of Hollywood masterfully and how sometimes famous people or actors lose themselves as a person underneath the limelight and become somewhat of a lost soul. In some respects they failed to make it feel impactful and it seemed disjointed sometimes. But to see ana de armas act her heart out and netflix do something new is truly refreshing. And it's such a long film but surprisingly didn't seem dragged.

People seem to think this is a biopic, this is entirely an error on Netflix's part. It is the legend of Marilyn Monroe reimagined as a Horror film in the style of St Maude, David Lynch with a healthy dose of the cinematic presentation of Wes Anderson.

If you're going into this expecting the usual biopic drama - you will be disappointed.

If you go into this expecting truth - you will be disappointed.

If you go into this with an open mind and pay attention to what the film is telling you then you'll see the greatness in it.

Every scene is in itself breathtaking to behold. Every actor is at the top of their game with the obvious leader being Ana De Armas who should be a shoe in for a best actress at the awards next year.

I have no idea how accurate this account of Marilyn Monroe's life is. I will say that there are some people in Norma Jean's life that, if this account is even close to accurate, are hopefully rotting in hell. This movie portrays a woman desperately in need of help who is tormented by many of the people that she chose to trust. A lot of "heroes" don't come out of this looking too good. Norma Jean comes out as a woman with massive insecurities and likely mental illness, who is abused and manipulated by many, many people, some of which claimed to love her, others of which simply wanted to make money off her,.

As usual Hollyweird goes overboard and destroys another icon. Instead of telling us about both the bitter and the sweet - they settle on the bad. All the bad, ugly, dark and crazy, that's what they like to show us. No... they want to ram it down the viewers throat, again, and again, and again, and again. You think I'm being repetitive? Oh, that's nothing compared to the movie.

Off course it's beautifully shot and DeArmas is a decent actress, but mostly overacting in this role. The side characters are bland at best but just not there most of the time. What made Marilyn such a great star? Well... they not gonna tell you in this movie. All they have time to do is give you the misery. And that's how you will be after watching this - miserable.

Blonde was already one of the most controversial and hotly debated films of the year before it hit Netflix, and therefore became available to the public at large. That's happened within the last day or two, and I expect that will blow up the discussion and discourse around it even more. It's probably going to be what most film news sites or discussion groups focus on for the next week or two, and maybe longer if it ends up earning some nominations for the upcoming awards season.

I don't want to talk about the controversy too much, but it's important to address it briefly. Truthfully, I don't understand most of it. This film is shocking in parts, yes, but not as bad as a lot of the early discussions surrounding it made it sound. Almost none of the scenes that involve sex or nudity are presented in a titillating way, and they're all over quite quickly. There's very little about it that's supposed to be erotic, and I think that's evident by how the camera tends to lock onto Norma Jean's face, to emphasize the pain, discomfort, and trauma she feels during those scenes.

So is it exploiting that pain, discomfort, and trauma? That seems to be the other big talking point. I didn't think so. I think the film was sympathetic to her, and aimed to showcase how misogynistic the film industry was at the time Norma Jean/Marilyn Monroe was active within it. It's arguably not much better nowadays, but whether these exact things happened to her or not feels somewhat beside the point. The fact is, things similar to this did almost certainly happen to Monroe and other young actresses. That idea is horrifying, and I think the film successfully painted it as horrifying.

Ana de Armas is fantastic in the lead role. She'll probably get some nominations come awards season. The rest of the cast are solid, the film is visually stunning from start to finish, and I loved the music by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis (at least one track was a repurposed instrumental from Ghosteen, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds' last album, but it fit so well I didn't mind).

For complaints about the filmmaking itself? The nearly three-hour runtime might be a little indulgent, but for the most part it earns it. There are also some occasionally strange and baffling creative decisions, but for every one that doesn't work, there's at least several strange creative decisions that do.

I thought Blonde was pretty great overall. I understand to a limited extent why it's become controversial, but can't wrap my head around the magnitude of that controversy. Still, if it's got people angry, I don't plan to wade into any discourse or make discussions more heated. I've defended it here and said my piece. I think it's very good.

Ana de Amas is really great in this, everyone can see that even if you don't ultimately like the movie. It's kind of a hard movie to like because it's very dark and (mostly) joyless.

I appreciated the direction as well, there are a few questionable decisions but more really good ones. Can't stress enough the vibes are mostly bad on this one but if you can get through that it's a real experience.

I have a hard time getting through long movies so this one took two sittings. I think there could have been an intermission to break up the middle end but so be it.

Obviously it's divisive but I appreciated this movie, even if I maybe didn't enjoy all of it.

This was so difficult to get through. It felt so messy and everything was one tone the entire way through, it was disaster after disaster with no room to breathe. I feel like even though this was a long film it didn't show who Monroe actually was, it focused on everything bad which I see what they were trying to do and what led her to taking her life but it was too much. There is also very sexual (sexual assault) scenes and they are so uncomfortable and unnecessary and felt a little disrespectful to show especially for that long! A lot of unnecessary nudity to be honest and abortion scenes which were too long and showed way too much and this happened 2/3 times it was horrific. This movie had these problems the entire way through and it was 3 hours! It was way too long for what we got, not worth the watch at all.

"I am not an orphan." Marilyn Monroe (Ana de Armas)

The iconic blonde bombshell is an orphan throughout this unnerving, distancing, disturbing biopic of Marilyn Monroe.

In fact, Blonde is an unremittingly, unhappy imaginative take on the elusive Hollywood superstar who became a template for achieving fame and losing identity. As I remember Renee Zellweger playing Judy Garland, I am reminded how intensely Hollywood depicts its neurotic superstars. Joyce Carol Oates's 2000 free-wheeling study of Marilyn helped writer/director Andrew Dominik fantasize as well.

Blonde is a study in black of the lurid and horrid parts of Marilyn's life, circumscribed by her three romances with the controlling men who themselves seemed lost in their parents' legacy: Hollywood scions Charles Chaplin Jr. (Xavier Samuel) and Edward G. Robinson Jr. (Evan Williams); an abusive Joe DiMaggio (Bobby Cannavale); and an odd marriage to Arthur Miller (Adrien Brody). No one appears to acknowledge her wit and smarts-mostly just her body and elusive allure.

Not one relationship ends right, excepting briefly Miller's; no one takes into account the intelligence under that physically-remarkable woman. The film even voices over her estranged father (Tyghe Runyan), who is never close when he promises to be. Of all the abusers, "Daddy" is constantly on her mind as she hopes for his return. Her mother, Gladys (Julianne Nicholson), descending into madness, is more a horror than a love. Marilyn says about her deadly fragmented life: "It's like a jigsaw puzzle, but you're not the one to put it together."

In one delicate scene, she converses with Miller about the similarity between a Chekov character and Miller's, Miller is astonished at the insight and imputes it to someone else. The audience becomes aware of her hidden depth.

But that intellectual side is constantly hidden by Marilyn's sexual persona, dramatically caught in another beautifully filmed moment when her dress flares over the grate in The Seven Year Itch. This display of her butt provokes DiMaggio's abuse and our prurience, neither in her favor. Dominik himself has exploited Norma Jeane, for there must have been more than sex to that vulnerable star. What he does capture well is her need for love and acceptance, denied her in her short life.

Throughout Dominik uses digital wizardry and unique angles, such as when her raucous threesome bed changes into Niagara Falls, niftily connecting her life with her film, Niagara. At other times he shifts between color and black and white and varies aspect ratios, I suppose, to connect her career with her life because of the many kinds of films she made-think Some Like It Hot, The Misfits, and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes for the range of her film experiences.

The lovely lost soul herself, so heavily handled in the persistent flashbacks of her abusive mother and disengaged father, best expresses the split persona that leads her to an early death:

"Marilyn doesn't exist. When I come out of my dressing room, I'm Norma Jeane. I'm still her when the camera is rolling. Marilyn Monroe only exists on the screen." Norma Jeane

It's the real Norma Jeane who should be the subject of Blonde, with speculation about her mind and talents, not just her body. Dominik has caught her charisma but missed her soul.

On Netflix.

What an amazing performance by Ana De Armas, in some shots she literally forgot that she is surrounded by cameras she was so real in some scenes that it shook me to the core, her performance is as good as Joaquin in Joker. Thanks Andrew Dominik for this masterpiece. Movie will surely get multiple Oscar Nominations. Some scenes are very controversial tough i hope they don't banned this movie. Camera work & Direction was so on point. Supporting cast was also too good. Movie is slow and might not be for everyone so i am not surprised to see some negative reviews. But people will watch it after next Oscar ceremony.

Three hours of sheer boredom with the whole focus of the film being on Norma Jean's father who abandoned her mother before she was born. Nothing new on offer. A lot of nude shots, Marilyn calling her husbands "Daddy" the babies she couldn't have, her intelligence got short shrift and her drug taking a huge focus, fed by her handlers.

John F. Kennedy, the womanizer, is depicted in a particularly revolting scene.

Shock value ruled the day and nothing new was added.

Totally disappointing and the words that comes to mind are crude and vulgar. Good imitative performance from Ana.

But not worth a re-watch or an award of any kind.

2/10.

I am not a Marilyn Monroe junkie, nor do I know that much about her life and career. I also was concerned that this movie is 3 hours long. This is a an Andrew Dominik film, based on a best selling book of the same title. The film is unusual and brilliantly done. It is a stream of consciousness that plays out more like a dream than a movie. It is visually stunning. The look and the details of this movie are stunning and breathtaking at parts. Ana de Armas is so unmistakeable as Marilyn Monroe that it is eerie. The effects working her into the actual Monroe films are seamless. The supporting case of actors are wonderful. This is a heavy dark movie in so many ways. It is a biography, but it is also the struggle of Norma Jean to distinguish herself from Marilyn Monroe, the character. It is also and ode to love, and to finding peace and identity through love. This movie is unique and brilliant, but it is not for someone looking for an easily digestible, chronological telling of the life of Marilyn Monroe. Much was made of the NC-17 rating; however, these scenes feed the story, not exploit it in my opinion. Netflix was bold in supporting this great project.

Marilyn Monroe was exploited in life, and she's being mega-exploited in death. Blonde is pure unadulterated exploitation of a woman who simply should be left alone to rest in peace. I don't care what Ana De Armas or that bloviating director tries to say about this film or the multitude of excuses they use...it's trash. The entire film is a lesson in exploitation 101. De Armas is not at all convincing as Monroe and the utterly despicable scenes in Blond would make Attila the Hun cringe and look away. There's nothing more to say except...I hope this disrespectful piece of dreck is the last time someone tries to make money on Marilyn Monroe by constantly exploiting her and dragging her out of her grave just because they can. Enough is enough.

As I've seen others review this simply based on being offended by the whole thing, thinking this is just a fictitious telling of the tragedies of Marilyn Monroe or thinking it's exploitative and disgusting and disturbing. This, I believe is part of the point painted in this film. It's not meant to paint a glamorous or nice telling of her story because her story was not a Disney fairytale. Whether these things happened to her or not on the other hand, I don't believe anyone can truly know for certain what happened exactly and what didn't. That being said, all these things in this film have without a doubt happened to other beautiful rising stars throughout the years Hollywood has been a thing. I dare anyone to prove otherwise. I don't think everything that happened on screen didn't happen to Marilyn though. There is a very sad unfortunate possibility that most, if not more terrible things like what happens to her in this did in fact happen to her. I'm certain that there were more happy times that aren't highlighted throughout this piece but that wasn't the point here. This was meant to take a look into the dark side of Hollywood. If what you're looking for is a Disney fairtale, this is not the movie for you. Otherwise, I have not been moved to tears or effected as much emotionally by any other movie this year or most years as of late. Ana De Armas deserves best female actor of the year for this. The film itself deserves all the awards it's qualified for. I loved how it was all told in a David Lynch esq. Type of way. Highly recommended to anyone that is a fan of well made films giving a true glance into the evils of Hollywood and it's not sugar coated.

If you know Andrew Dominik's style of directing, you would know that he takes a different take on characters. Sometimes it's refreshing to see a different vision from such an iconic character. I saw the art, feelings of despair, poetry in the monologues, lighting style , camera views and intensity. This is not going to be what you expect it to be but then again the story shows in a way that just makes you absorb a story. It's slower paced, it non traditional but it's still a story created by an artist of the life of an artist. Marilyn will never be forgotten and always seen as what pop culture contributes but there's a real person behind the fame and fortune. I respected the movie and the intentions from the directors eye. 👌🏽

There's a moment in the opening wildfire scene where Norma Jean's mother expels a sigh that's equal parts anger and exasperation. Who knew that sigh would become my mantra for the rest of this travesty's runtime? "Blonde" is a cinematic snuff film: sadistic and exploitative in how it revels in Marilyn Monroe's pain. The way director Andrew Dominik indulges in her misery is nauseating.

Jumping from one traumatic fever dream to the next, this joyless film reduces a cultural icon into a punching bag for the parade of leeches, con-men, charlatans, abusers, and vultures in her life, culminating with "Blonde's" director himself. Everyone's queued up to extract their pound of flesh from Marilyn Monroe's legacy in this sick sideshow, both in-camera and behind it.

I've never hate-Googled a DP until now, but holy cow: Chayse Irvin's cinematography is self-indulgent, pompous trend-chasing with zero rhyme or reason. It's three hours of "herp derp I bet this will look dope."

Arbitrary transitions from color to black-and-white; aspect ratio swaps for no cohesive or thematic reason; and "trendy" camera set-ups (I audibly scoffed at the random chest GoPro angle for Bobby Cannavale in one scene) are but a small taste of the incoherent parlor tricks thrown your way over the course of Blonde's nearly three hours.

As if there aren't enough sins to go around, the sloppy, unbalanced sound design comes in as if to say, "hold my beer." There's jarring jumps in volume when Norma Jean's mom screams at her, or when certain sound effects or score elements come in and out. It almost feels like they thought the project was a horror movie that needed jump scares baked in. We must also reserve a special lashing for whoever thought FETUS VOICEOVER would be a worthwhile element to add to this turd-pile of a movie.

I love Ana de Armas' work but whoever signed off on her American accent needs to be drawn and quartered. It vacillates between, "okay fine" to "big yikes." Every time Ana utters "Daddy" was NAILS ON A CHALKBOARD.

The choice to luxuriate in Marilyn Monroe's misery as opposed to condemning the parties who precipitated it is telling. There is a brief moment halfway through where you think Marilyn has finally realized her worth and is ready to speak up for herself as deserving of respect as the freaking reason people come to see her movies, but it putters out as a blip in the grand scheme of the tragedy porn this film prefers to live in.

My biggest regret is viewing this film as part of an in-theater early screening. If I had been watching on Netflix, I could have just ended my misery without much fuss.

Look at her eyes. Look at the spot-on reenactments of her classic movie moments (especially "Some Like It Hot"). Ana de Armas' transformation into Marilyn Monroe is devastating, heartbreaking, and so completely accurate that it comes across less as an imitation and more like an inhabitation of the legendary actress' soul. Lugubriously directed by Andrew Dominik, this overlong 2022 film is not a straight-up biopic but an episodic cautionary tale of pre-Harvey Weinstein abuse and power politics taken from a startling first-person perspective. Based on Joyce Carol Oates' 2001 novel, the story is not only tragic but painful to watch with trauma erupting in almost every scene. Look past de Armas' Oscar-worthy work if you can, and you'll see strong work from Julianne Nicholson as her disturbed mother and Adrien Brody as the Arthur Miller character. Why it received an NC-17 rating became clear toward the end.

A young woman, disturbed, tortured and scarred by her childhood; abused, exploited and manipulated by those she most trusts; anxious, afraid and troubled by what she really wants and what she actually has, spirals into chaos and despair, cascades into confusion and mayhem, and pays the ultimate price for fame and fortune, for pleasing others above herself, while sacrificing the innocence that endears her to the world.

Longer than your typical movie, it's only through the compelling and gripping performance of Ana de Armas that it gets away with that longevity, although the subject matter of this grim, fictionalised telling generally captures most people's attention, but I'm not sure the exposure she gets throughout really adds to the value.