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Its like a jigsaw puzzle, but youre not the one to put it together.
And its chopped her to bits, almost literally.
And it is brutal, its lush surfaces and old Hollywood recreations almost always giving way to unspeakable horrors.
(And if one did, itd likely be incorrect.)
Regardless, the picture will surely fuel endless rounds of soul-pulverizing debates.
In fact, its kind of designed to, loaded as it is with provocations.
A photo of him, a dashing figure with hat and mustache, hangs above Gladyss bed.
The film claims that access, too.
It even goes … into her cervix to show the aforementioned abortion.
Like I said, the movie hurts.
DiMaggio has used baseball to create a character in a way similar to Marilyn.
(Im one of the winners of the American lottery, he declares.)
And these men all claim different kinds of ownership over her.
The juniors explore her sexually.
DiMaggio beats her mercilessly.
Miller takes her words and puts them into his plays without telling her.
Whether in marriage or in other affairs, Norma Jeane rarely has any agency.
The ground never feels safe under her feet.
She is presented for the constant salivation of men, their enormous eyes leering and surreally engorged mouths gaping.
And those are just the bystanders.
Afterward, Marilyn is carried out again, groggy and wounded, the camera drifting and spinning around her.
At times, the movie feels like a slaughterhouse seen from the animals point of view.
Theres something repetitive about all this, to be sure, butBlondeis never tedious or boring.
(The drifting, gently wailing score by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis helps, too.)
But also, Ana de Armas wins us over.
Her performance is not quite what one might expect.
Shes certainly committed fully to a part that requires intense physicality, tons of nudity, and tears.
And she expertly mimics Monroes half-breathless style of speaking.
But she still has traces of her accent, which the film doesnt hide.
Ana de Armas doesnt inhabit the role of Marilyn Monroe.
Rather, the role of Marilyn Monroe inhabits Ana de Armas like a tortured, possibly malevolent spirit.
Blondeis beautiful, mesmerizing, and, at times, deeply moving.
Thats going to be a tough sell, especially for a film thats so nonlinear and elliptical.
