Blonde (2022)
6.583 /10
453 Reviews
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From her volatile childhood as Norma Jeane, through her rise to stardom and romantic entanglements, this reimagined fictional portrait of Hollywood legend Marilyn Monroe blurs the lines of fact and fiction to explore the widening split between her public and private selves.
Videos & Photos
cast
... Norma Jeane
... The Playwright
... The Ex-Athlete
... Miss Flynn
... Ex-Athlete's Niece
User reviews
What a truly disappointing film this is. It offers us a really slow, sterile and disjointed - almost episodic - depiction of just how Marilyn Monroe's life might have panned out. For a start, I couldn't decide whether Ana de Armas was really Lady Gaga or Scarlett Johansson (both of whom would have acquitted themselves better, I'd say) as she offers an admittedly intense, but remarkably uninvolved performance. We move along from chapter to chapter in her life hindered by some fairly weak and uninspiring dialogue and seriously intrusive scoring in what becomes an increasingly shallow and lacklustre fashion. The photography does try hard - it does offer us a sense of intimacy, but the whole thing is presented in such a stylised and un-natural manner that it is frequently difficult to tell whether she is/was a "real" woman. Her marriages are treated in an almost scant manner - and her relationship with JFK is reduced to something rather implausibly one-sided and sordid showing nothing of how their relationship might have come to be. It has no soul, this film. Aside from her glamour - which was, even then, hardly unique we are not really introduced to any of the nuances of her character, we are left guessing a lot of the time as to just how she did become such a superstar, and how she spiralled so inevitably into a maelstrom of booze and pills. It relies to a considerable extent on the viewer's existing knowledge of, and affection for, this flawed lady. Adrien Brody and Bobby Cannavale don't really have much chance to add anything as her husbands and the highly speculative relationship between her and Charlie Chaplin Jnr (Xavier Samuel) and his sexually ambiguous partner-in-crime Edward G Robinson Jr (Scoot McNairy) does suggest something of the rather profligate and debauched existence that some lived in Hollywood, but again their characters are also largely undercooked and again, we are largely left to use our own imagination. It is far, far too long and in a packed cinema, I could see people looking at the ceiling just once too often. Watchable, certainly, but a real missed opportunity to offer us something scintillating and tantalising about this most of iconic of women.
Director:
Genres:
Release Date:
2022-09-16
Run Time:
167 min
MMPA Rating:
NC-17
Reviews of
Blonde
What a truly disappointing film this is. It offers us a really slow, sterile and disjointed - almost episodic - depiction of just how Marilyn Monroe's life might have panned out. For a start, I couldn't decide whether Ana de Armas was really Lady Gaga or Scarlett Johansson (both of whom would have acquitted themselves better, I'd say) as she offers an admittedly intense, but remarkably uninvolved performance. We move along from chapter to chapter in her life hindered by some fairly weak and uninspiring dialogue and seriously intrusive scoring in what becomes an increasingly shallow and lacklustre fashion. The photography does try hard - it does offer us a sense of intimacy, but the whole thing is presented in such a stylised and un-natural manner that it is frequently difficult to tell whether she is/was a "real" woman. Her marriages are treated in an almost scant manner - and her relationship with JFK is reduced to something rather implausibly one-sided and sordid showing nothing of how their relationship might have come to be. It has no soul, this film. Aside from her glamour - which was, even then, hardly unique we are not really introduced to any of the nuances of her character, we are left guessing a lot of the time as to just how she did become such a superstar, and how she spiralled so inevitably into a maelstrom of booze and pills. It relies to a considerable extent on the viewer's existing knowledge of, and affection for, this flawed lady. Adrien Brody and Bobby Cannavale don't really have much chance to add anything as her husbands and the highly speculative relationship between her and Charlie Chaplin Jnr (Xavier Samuel) and his sexually ambiguous partner-in-crime Edward G Robinson Jr (Scoot McNairy) does suggest something of the rather profligate and debauched existence that some lived in Hollywood, but again their characters are also largely undercooked and again, we are largely left to use our own imagination. It is far, far too long and in a packed cinema, I could see people looking at the ceiling just once too often. Watchable, certainly, but a real missed opportunity to offer us something scintillating and tantalising about this most of iconic of women.
In the middle of 2022, the movie I was looking forward to the most was '**Blonde**', but... I'm really disappointed.
The film has nowhere to hold on, it's just a fictional compilation of the supposed life of **Marilyn Monroe**, where we don't get context and it's easy to get lost through the scenes and the large number of characters (_which if you didn't know the story, you wouldn't really know who they are_) of a feature film of almost three hours. The direction is good, although quite experimental where sometimes elements that seem to come out of nowhere are combined. Not to mention the constant switching between color and black/white that doesn't seem to represent anything concrete.
**Ana de Armas's** performance is brilliant, by far the best of the film, despite how poor her character is.
I'm really disappointed, in these times we live in, designing a movie about **Marilyn Monroe** could have contained a much more powerful message. The story of a woman who went through the sexualization of the industry in the 50's. Instead the film only seems to add fuel to the fire by showing nudity at any time and sometimes for no reason.
Based on a story in parts fictitious, with a vision, in my opinion, poorly focused, they make 'Blonde' a great disappointment.
This is a movie that shows no other side of Marylin than her being miserable. While watching this movie, if you try to fact-check stuff, you realize that many parts of it are fictitious. Then as you continue watching the movie, you wonder what you're watching. This movie is neither a good representation of reality nor a good work of fiction...
Cast & Crew of
Blonde
Cast
... Norma Jeane
... The Playwright
... The Ex-Athlete
... Miss Flynn
... Ex-Athlete's Niece
... Gladys
... Tom Ewell / Richard Sherman
... Cass Chaplin
... The President
... Eddy G. Robinson Jr.
... Yvet
... Whitey
... Jean
... Brooke
... I.E. Shinn
... Norma Jeane's Father
... Mr. Z
... Young Norma Jeane
... Tony Curtis
... Jack Lemmon
... Doc Fell
... Casting Director
... Dick Tracy
... Jiggs
... Bugs Bunny
... Dr. Bender
... Billy Wilder
... Rudy
... The Acting Coach
... Radio Announcer
... Tuxedo #2
... Assistant to the Director
... Brentwood Doctor
... The Writer
... Joe E. Brown
... Joseph Cotten
... Diamonds Dancer
... Photographer's Assistant
... Ward Nurse at Norwalk
... Joe
... Diamonds Dancer
... Uncle Clive
... Marilyn Singing Voice
... Deputy Will Bonnie
... Dee-Dee
... Tracey
... Dr. Spindel
... Actor in Play
... Chloroform Man #1
... Chloroform Man #2
... 5th Helena Messenger
... Assistant Camera Man
... Trailer Announcer/Newsreel Announcer
... Dr. Greenson
... Ex-Athlete's Momma
... Young Norma Jeane (voice)
... Producer (uncredited)
Crew
... Producer
... Art Direction
... Casting
... Producer
... Sound Designer
... Sound Re-Recording Mixer
... Makeup Artist
... Makeup Artist
... Makeup Artist
... Director
... Writer
... Original Music Composer
... Original Music Composer
... Prosthetics
... Costume Design
... Novel
... Producer
... Visual Effects Supervisor
... Visual Effects Producer
... Additional Editor
... Producer
... Unit Production Manager
... Producer
... Director of Photography
... Additional Editor
... Costume Supervisor
... Makeup Department Head
... Makeup Artist
... Visual Effects Producer
... Set Designer
... Visual Effects Producer
... Set Costumer
... Set Designer
... Makeup Artist
... Makeup Artist
... Set Decoration
... Makeup Artist
... Choreographer
... ADR Mixer
... Visual Effects
... Sound Mixer
... Production Design
... Visual Effects Supervisor
... Visual Effects Producer
... Visual Effects Supervisor
... Sound Effects Editor
... Editor
... Visual Effects Supervisor
... Hair Department Head
... Makeup Artist
... Utility Sound
... Second Assistant Director
... Boom Operator
... Additional Editor
... Set Decoration Buyer
... Foley Editor
... Additional Script Supervisor
... Key Hair Stylist
... Set Dresser
... VFX Artist
... Executive Producer
... Script Supervisor
... Production Supervisor
... Visual Effects Producer
... Makeup Artist
... Visual Effects Supervisor
... Makeup Artist
... Set Costumer
... Makeup Artist
... Set Dresser
... Set Dresser
... ADR Mixer
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