Blonde

 

Blonde (Netflix)

This movie is not what I expected. Marilyn Monroe was a tragic figure, but this film is sad and in some parts disturbing. Ana de Amras’ performance was hampered by the script and overwrought direction. Physically de Amras struck a good resemble to Monroe with a pouty face, her distinctive beauty mark and Monroe’s trademark hushed voice. Monroe was tormented by the tragic events of Norma Jean’s life, from the orphanage home to her absent father. Some life events of Monroe are well known, her marriage to Joe DiMaggio and to Arthur Miller and her affair with Kennedy. This is not a biography, but some scenes are bizarre and muddle the character.

Under the circumstances de Armas did the best she could. She played Monroe with fragility and damaged from an unstable mother and an absent father. I think some of the scenes must have been uncomfortable for her. Any depiction of Monroe focuses on her sexuality; it could be subtle or crude. The Kennedy scene was just prurient and in bad taste. Her miscarriage and abortions were unnecessarily graphic.

Bobby Cannavale as Joe DiMaggio and Adrian Brodie as Arthur Miller gave good performances. The script is faulty. With DiMaggio her marriage ends in divorce but with Miller he just disappears (they did divorce). Not mentioning her last performance in The Misfits neglects her growth to a maturing actress.

This film gives a one-sided depiction of Monroe as just a sex object. There are some hints of her intelligence when she quotes Chekhov and Dostoevsky or insightfully interprets one on Miller’s characters, but these are dismissed as out of character. No mention is made of her befriending Ella Fitzgerald when it was not acceptable to do so or that she founded her own production company Pacific Standard. There is too much ugly added and too much good left out of this film. The one redeeming feature the film is free on Netflix.