Blonde was already one of the most controversial and hotly debated films of the year before it hit Netflix, and therefore became available to the public at large. That's happened within the last day or two, and I expect that will blow up the discussion and discourse around it even more. It's probably going to be what most film news sites or discussion groups focus on for the next week or two, and maybe longer if it ends up earning some nominations for the upcoming awards season.
I don't want to talk about the controversy too much, but it's important to address it briefly. Truthfully, I don't understand most of it. This film is shocking in parts, yes, but not as bad as a lot of the early discussions surrounding it made it sound. Almost none of the scenes that involve sex or nudity are presented in a titillating way, and they're all over quite quickly. There's very little about it that's supposed to be erotic, and I think that's evident by how the camera tends to lock onto Norma Jean's face, to emphasize the pain, discomfort, and trauma she feels during those scenes.
So is it exploiting that pain, discomfort, and trauma? That seems to be the other big talking point. I didn't think so. I think the film was sympathetic to her, and aimed to showcase how misogynistic the film industry was at the time Norma Jean/Marilyn Monroe was active within it. It's arguably not much better nowadays, but whether these exact things happened to her or not feels somewhat beside the point. The fact is, things similar to this did almost certainly happen to Monroe and other young actresses. That idea is horrifying, and I think the film successfully painted it as horrifying.
Ana de Armas is fantastic in the lead role. She'll probably get some nominations come awards season. The rest of the cast are solid, the film is visually stunning from start to finish, and I loved the music by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis (at least one track was a repurposed instrumental from Ghosteen, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds' last album, but it fit so well I didn't mind).
For complaints about the filmmaking itself? The nearly three-hour runtime might be a little indulgent, but for the most part it earns it. There are also some occasionally strange and baffling creative decisions, but for every one that doesn't work, there's at least several strange creative decisions that do.
I thought Blonde was pretty great overall. I understand to a limited extent why it's become controversial, but can't wrap my head around the magnitude of that controversy. Still, if it's got people angry, I don't plan to wade into any discourse or make discussions more heated. I've defended it here and said my piece. I think it's very good.
