Blonde- Movie Review
- By Shargeel Sheikh -
- Oct 11, 2022
Marilyn Monroe Destroys Norma Jeane in Netflix movie ‘Blonde’!
In an Indian movie, a woman avidly bonds with a deceased lady dancer who had met a tragic end. She falls in love with her story, things, jewels, her clothes, even the paintings in which she was portrayed.
The affection grows peculiarly to the extent that she starts to considers herself that very dancer. Wearing her bangles and donning her attire, she used to dance and sing in a locked room inside an ancient family castle. She was suffering from dissociative identity disorder (DID).
Even though the above-mentioned movie is entirely fiction based, I came to know about another person who had suffered it in real life: Norma Jean aka Marilyn Monroe.
“A Raging Torrent of Emotions, that even Nature Can’t Control!”
“Marilyn Monroe, as the Tantalizing Temptress”
The words appeared embolden on the screen as Marilyn Monroe is busy romancing with her two lovers, one of which turns out to be the son of late Charlie Chaplin.
Ana De Armas stars as the infamous Monroe while the story has been derived from the 1999 novel of Joyce Carol Oates by Andrew Dominic.
The movie has been circling around vehement criticism. The professionals are accusing the film of objectifying the star as a sex symbol and not enough dwelling into her emotional life.
The movie has been blamed for faking the respect for the iconic Marilyn while focusing on her body and how brutally it takes its toll throughout the actress career.
Throughout the movie, Norma Jeane seems to become a patient of dissociative identity disorder as she starts becoming Marilyn Monroe.
Unlike the glamourous and fame craving Marilyn, Norma Jeane is a simple woman seeking love and an abode with her family. She seeks emotional love and wants to have a child of her own one day. She wants to escape this world of toxic showbiz and start anew.
Even though it’s just a name, Marilyn Monroe becomes an entire character, a completely different person whose traits Norma Jeane adapts. Marilyn is a happy blonde actress who depicts a perfect rich and stellar life and is the sweetheart fantasy of every American man out there.
“This isn’t me, is it?” She asks her lover while contemplating the newspapers and magazines headlines about her.
As the movie progresses, we see Norma Jeane struggling to keep her original self and giving her character of Marilyn Monroe the top priorities- Although she is both and can easily shuffle.
A creepy scene is witnessed in the movie in which Norma Jeane is crying. As soon as she realizes that she has to present herself in front of an audience, she swiftly changes her expression. Norma laughs off her tears and transfigures in a spirit possessing manner into the happy Marilyn Monroe. This scene moved me off my feet.
The movie Blonde offers a much darker perspective of Marilyn Monroe when this personality disorder is registered. A traumatic childhood, an artificial life of joy and riches, and a career in which she is abused multiple times makes Marilyn Monroe (or Norma Jeane) uncanny and someone to empathize with.
Whenever Norma asked for help. She was ignored by the men who had full authority over her career and life. She would ask them to protect her, to treat her, to love her for she is Norma Jeane and not Marilyn Monroe. But that never happened.
After becoming an icon, she realizes that people would never want to know the turbulent background that haunted the actress. She had fallen deep enough, unable to escape Marilyn Monroe, for the world would only desire the latter.
“Everybody wanted a piece of Marilyn Monroe, but nobody saw the dwindling hope in the eyes of the starlet.”
-Sushrut Gopesh on Digital Mafia Talkies
In Norma’s pursuit of the belief that she would smoothly juggle between her true self and Marilyn turned out to be devastating.
While Marilyn only desired the light, the attention, and the glamour, Norma struggled with her oneself in finding gratification and comfort.
Behind every contagious smile of Marilyn Monroe was Norma Jeane, crying in agony and pain, for this new character has had possessed her like a perilous demon.
Marilyn Monroe was highly appealing, to the world, to the press, even to Norma. And that’s when she started worrying about it. It was then when she started addressing Marilyn in 3rd person.
Ana De Armas is a virtuoso who was the perfect chosen one to portray the controversial starlet. She played Norma Jeane smoothly, starred as Marilyn Monroe compellingly, and supremely balanced the duality of both from scene to scene.
As for Andrew Dominic, he played sagaciously with the palettes and offered an intense vibe very similar to Buz Luhrman ‘s Elvis.
Blonde is far from being a biopic and does not relate to the actual life of Marilyn Monroe in numerous ways. However, it does deliver a sense of deepness and emotions. The one where one would relate to the toxic world in which Norma Jeane lived- and was given the name of Marilyn Monroe to rule it.