Blonde
Blonde
From director Andrew Dominik, and based on the bestselling novel by Joyce Carol Oates, 'Blonde' boldly reimagines the life of one of Hollywood's most enduring icons, Marilyn Monroe. From her volatile childhood as Norma Jeane, through her rise to stardom and romantic entanglements, 'Blonde' blurs the lines of fact and fiction to explore the widening split between her public and private selves.
Kevin Ward reviewedJuly 3, 2025
Having finally seen this, I get how it earned a nomination for Ana de Armas even if I still don’t think I would’ve put her forward as an nominee. Even a full 45 minutes into the film, I still didn’t care for her casting. Her accent never totally disappears. But as the film wears on and you experience this ugly and visceral examination of fame, celebrity, objectification, exploitation—and given that more often than not de Armas appears topless at some point in her films—her casting felt more and more like a means to extend the examination beyond the frame lines of the film. There are even a couple moments where her full accent comes through—seemingly intentionally. It sort of re-contextualized her casting for me and actually began to re-contextual the film as a whole. It’s beautifully shot, at times gorgeous to look at, yet also, incredibly uncomfortable, unsettling and grotesque.
I understand the hatred of this. It’s a nightmarish and unnerving fever dream of a film that has very little to do with Norma Jeane herself. I don’t know that we should even characterize this as a biopic. It’s an immensely challenging watch, but I think to write it off as pure exploitation is little too reductive. I can’t say that I would ever want to watch this again, but I found it to be a thought-provoking watch.