Andrew Dominik’s “Blonde” was roasted by American critics when it came out in late September.
The fact that it was Marilyn Monroe depicted on-screen brought in a hefty amount of bait for people who couldn’t take it that a white male director would tackle such a fervent cinematic icon, and in such a sexual way. To the point where Dominik was accused of misogyny and exploitation.
Speaking at the Red Sea International Film Festival in Saudi Arabia [via THR], Dominik sharpened his knives for U.S. critics, who had the strongest reaction to the film — “they hated the movie!” — and said its negative reaction was purely based Americans these days only wanting an empowered woman on-screen.
“Now we’re living in a time where it’s important to present women as empowered, and they want to reinvent Marilyn Monroe as an empowered woman. That’s what they want to see,” he said. “And if you’re not showing them that, it upsets them.”
“Which is kind of strange, because she’s dead. The movie doesn’t make any difference in one way or another,” he said. “What they really mean is that the film exploited their memory of her, their image of her, which is fair enough. But that’s the whole idea of the movie. It’s trying to take the iconography of her life and put it into service of something else, it’s trying to take things that you’re familiar with, and turning the meaning inside out. But that’s what they don’t want to see.”
Dominik added that nowadays American movies are “more conservative,” like a bedtime story where people already know every word and anything different would cause a reaction. “But I don’t want to make bedtime stories.”
It’s quite something that Netflix would invest in such an obtuse, detached and graphic art film. It’s great for us cinephiles. Dominik’s film was never going to be well-liked by mainstream audiences, then again the majority of the critics seem to also be against the film.
When I watched “Blonde” I was enthralled by the first two hours and change, but felt like Dominik hit a total wall in the film’s final half hour. De Armas was great and I love how the film was fearless in showcasing the abusive horndogs Monroe had to deal with (especially DiMaggio and JFK).
Monroe is depicted as a supreme martyr of the 20th-century. It’s basically “The Passion of the Christ,” but with Monroe replacing Jesus. She just gets physically and mentally tortured throughout. Dominik greased his Gibson fumes here.
It’s a movie that tries to capture who Monroe actually was. That’s what I liked about “Blonde.” It’s probably the best account of what was truly occurring inside Monroe’s head. Other depictions have failed in their attempts to convey the inner torture, the demons inside her psyche. It’s torturous psychodrama.