Decoding Marylin Monore's life is not an easy task; Filmmaker Andrew Dominik gets a few things right in Blonde

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In the 1950s and early 1960s, actress Marilyn Monroe had enjoyed fame like no other. What led her to her early grave (suicide at the age of 36) is a question that still haunts us. Blonde, a pseudo-biographical drama by Andrew Dominik, tries to untangle Marylin’s complicated life and trauma, fame and divorces, death and rumours around it.

Blonde

Director: Andrew Dominik

Cast: Ana de Armas, Lily Fisher, Julianne Nicholson, Adrien Brody, Bobby Cannabvale, Caspar Phillipson, Spencer Garrett, Evan Williams, Xavier Samuel, Tygh Runyan, Michael Drayer, Sara Paxton, Ryan Vincent and Emil Beheshti

Rating: ***

Marilyn’s bipolar disorder is very well portrayed by Ana De Armas to the point when Norma Jeane after seeing herself on a magazine cover says, “She is pretty I guess, but she isn’t me, is it?” Ana’s portrayal of Marilyn is picture perfect as if ‘she has imagined Marilyn’s body next to her real self’. Ana has aced all the iconic shots of Marilyn. However, the perception that Norma was completely divorced from her stage image as Marilyn is wrongly put. Marilyn did battle depressing issues but it’s not that her life was completely bereft of any high points. Blonde has missed on that part and has shown her life in the light of victimhood. She was more than the divorces she went through.

The actress had owned not just the stage but her life as well. Stripping her of her happy moments, the film doesn’t do her any justice . When she was alive, everybody would want a piece of her or would give their right arm to be like her, and Dominik by introducing too many adultery scenes has done the same to her posthumously. The creative liberties are too many to be ignored. Adrien Brody as Marylin’s second husband Arthur Miller is a sheer wastage of talent.

There’s a powerful play of psychological delusions to address Marilyn’s mental state and the director cleverly hides what he can’t clearly point a finger at. For instance, there’s a scene where the President of the US exploits the late actress, which was supposedly the last heartbreak she had suffered. In all probability it happened in her imagination, but that Marilyn Monroe sang ‘Happy Birthday Mr President’, which is a documented fact, is not a part of the script.

The film has great songs but the run-time is a tad too long and after some time the narrative becomes repetitive. While director Dominik gets few things right, one needs to watch it for the cinematic experience but otherwise there are many documentaries and books on the legend which would be worth your time. Or, as Joyce Carol Oates, the author of Blonde, from which the film is adapted, writes, “I think it was/is a brilliant work of cinematic art obviously not for everyone. Surprising that in a post #MeToo era the stark exposure of sexual predation in Hollywood has been interpreted as ‘exploitation’. Surely, Andrew Dominik meant to tell Norma Jeane’s story sincerely.”

Streaming on Netflix.