As controversial as they as come as Australian director Andrew Dominik (The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Chopper) blows the legend that is Marilyn Monroe out of the water.
Interweaving scenes shot in black and white with those is colour, Dominik choses to allow the narrative of her life to unfold in a series of fractured tableaux. Early childhood with a mentally unstable mother (Julianne Nicholson – August: Osage County, TV’s Mare of Easttown) seagues into uncertainty as an adult. Yet dominant is Monroe’s preoccupation with her unknown daddy, who as a child was but a picture on the wall. Lovers and husbands become her quasi daddy, all treated briefly in this slow burn of a feature (six years of marriage to third (unnamed) husband Arthur Miller – Adrien Brody – is dispatched in three shortish scenes).
Ana de Armas (Knives Out, No Time to Die) is extraordinary as Monroe – but she is let down by a film that is academic and artificial, focusing on, as described by Miller, the saddest woman he ever met. Blonde is a brave attempt, very much along the lines of the director’s earlier The Assassination of Jesse James… with a (surprisingly uninspiring) score from Nick Cave and Warren Ellis. But, too clever by half in avoiding any semblance of a standard biopic (because it’s not – Blonde is an adaptation of Joyce Carol Oates’ fictional novel), Blonde may look beautiful (cinematographer Chayse Irvin – BlacKkKlansman, Hannah) but it is ultimately repetitive and emotionally impenetrable.
Nominated for best actress Oscar in 2023.
Rating: 57%
An Opinion or Two 