Legendary writer-director Pedro Almodóvar, 73 years old, received the Feroz de Honor Award in his home country of Spain. Some of his great acting muses were there: Rossy de Palma, Aitana Sánchez-Gijón, Julieta Serrano, Bibiana Fernández, Milena Smit and Leonor Watling.
On the red carpet, Almodóvar was asked about his thoughts on the Best Actress category and it’s quite clear he has a favorite:
"Ana deserves the Oscar. What she does as Marilyn is impressive; what happens is that this year there are two beasts, Michelle Yeoh and Cate Blanchett, who are going to make it difficult for her, but Ana’s performance deserves the Oscar.”
Last year, in a write-up for Spanish media outlet El Diario, Almodóvar was full of praise for Andrew Dominik’s film:
I must be one of the few to have seen “Blonde”, Andrew Dominik's great film, where Ana de Armas plays Marilyn Monroe in a chillingly convincing fashion.
Many years before the word "objectification" became fashionable for feminists, Norma Jean was already using it in reference to herself, she claimed the public and the industry had reduced her to a “thing”. And before and after she became famous, she was repeatedly abused by Hollywood officials (I am surprised that #MeToo never mentioned Marilyn in its crusade against the abuse of power in Hollywood).
Joyce Carol Oates' book, which to me seems to be the best biography of Marilyn Monroe, even though it is a novel, speaks of this relentless struggle between the person and her character.
Almodóvar’s praise comes off what have been brutal attacks against “Blonde,” precisely concerning the film’s depiction of Marilyn Monroe as a “victim” instead of some kind of female-empowered heroine.
This kind of misguided criticism sunk the film critically and spawned an innumerable amount of think-pieces, many of which deceived Dominik as a misogynist for her his portrayal of Monroe.
“Blonde” ended up, unfairly, getting nominated for Worst Picture and Worst Director at the Razzies. However, surprisingly, De Armas managed to nab a Best Actress Oscar nomination last week. This means she actually had more votes than the snubbed Viola Davis and Danielle Deadwyler. Go figure.
For all the many haters the film might have, there is also a fervently passionate number of supporters out there. “Blonde” finished in 9th place in our Readers Poll of the Best 2022 Films.