To say there’s a discourse on social media about Andrew Dominik’s latest film, “Blonde,” is a huge understatement. For years, since the film was announced, especially after the reports of Ana de Armas being cast in the lead, people have been speculating about the Marilyn Monroe biopic, based on the fictionalized history of Joyce Carol Oates’ novel of the same name. And when the film started to screen, and its release on Netflix coming tomorrow, the discussion surrounded the film’s rating (NC-17), the frank depiction of sexual assault, and various other aspects of the film. Needless to say, “Blonde” is a film that will be debated for years to come, with some loving it and many hating it.
Most of the criticism seems to stem from Dominik’s choices in the way he presents the life and career of Monroe. Since he’s basing “Blonde” on a fictionalized story of a real celebrity, there’s a general confusion about what folks are supposed to take from the film. Is it Dominik’s view of Monroe’s life? Is it even an attempt to tell Monroe’s story? Perhaps it’s just an experimental feature that could have used any classic female celebrity for its subject? Well, according to a new interview with Sight & Sound Magazine, one thing is for sure— Andrew Dominik doesn’t want you to think “Blonde” is a typical biopic aiming to tell the complete story of Marilyn Monroe. As Dominik makes clear in his interview, he’s more interested in creating a film based on specific images and emotions than he is on keeping it real.
“I’m not interested in reality, I’m interested in the images,” said Dominik about creating the look of his film. “So I selected every image of Marilyn I could find and then tried to stage scenes around those images. You’re constantly referring to them.”
This reliance on trying to replicate specific images of Monroe led to the constantly shifting aspect ratio and style of the film, with some segments being in black and white, while others are in color.
“There’s no story sense to it. It’s just based on the photographs,” the filmmaker said. “So if a photograph was, you know, four by three, then we do it four by three. There’s no logic to it, other than to try to know her life, visually.”
Though he created “Blonde” less as a biopic and more as a stylish look at certain (sometimes fictional) aspects of Monroe’s life, that doesn’t mean the filmmaker didn’t do his research.
“I’ve read everything there is to read about Marilyn Monroe. I’ve met people that knew her. I’ve done an enormous amount of research. But in the end, it’s about the book,” he explained. “And adapting the book is really about adapting the feelings that the book gave me. I see the film, in some ways, as Joyce’s vision of Marilyn, which is also really Joyce. So I think the film is about the meaning of Marilyn Monroe. Or a meaning. She was symbolic of something. She was the Aphrodite of the 20th century, the American goddess of love. And she killed herself. So what does that mean?”
Interestingly, one of the most polarizing moments of the interview comes from an outtake that writer Christina Newland shared on social media. In that, Dominik talks about specific films in Monroe’s career and posits the theory that the actress is a “huge cultural thing” but no one actually watches her films.
“She’s somebody who’s become this huge cultural thing in a whole load of movies that nobody really watches, right? Does anyone watch Marilyn Monroe movies?” he asked.
As you might expect, making a comment like this isn’t going to sit well with film fans on social media, many of whom are already upset with the content of “Blonde.” So, this comment, along with the rest of the outtake (seen below), has led to a bit of a backlash, already.
Again, all of this keeps adding to the mystique of “Blonde,” which is clearly a film that isn’t going to fade into the background anytime soon. It’ll be really interesting to see what the general consensus on the film is when it finally arrives on Netflix around the world on September 28.
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