Netflix And Chill: Blonde (2022)

Based on the biographical fiction novel by Joyce Carol Oates, although many moments feel close to some kind of a reality that we've all since become aware of, Blonde is a look at the wild and tragic life of Marilyn Monroe. Director Andrew Dominik also took on the job of adapting from the page to the screen, and there are plenty of choices made here that suggest he may not be a fan of the woman at the heart of the story.

Ana de Armas takes on the main role of Norma Jeane AKA Marilyn Monroe. She's first shown as a child (played by Lily Fisher), dragged through a number of painful and tragic moments by her ill mother (Julianne Nicholson). These moments will resonate through her entire life, as will the objectification and abuse that occurs on her journey to becoming one of the most iconic movie stars on the planet. There are various sexual encounters, there are horrible procedures based on the decisions of others treating her body as her only commodity, and there are two very famous marriages depicted (one to Joe DiMaggio, played here by Bobby Cannavale, and one to Arthur Miller, played by Adrien Brody).

I have really enjoyed a number of features from Andrew Dominik. His films generally range from the good to the great (Chopper), and he has made at least one modern masterpiece in the form of The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford. I took my time getting around to Blonde because I heard a lot of negative opinion about it when it first appeared, but I knew I would get around to it one day. After all, it's often important to check out something fully to form your own opinion on it. Well . . . the majority who spoke out against this were correct. It's pretty bad.

De Armas is superb though, and I am surprised that she didn't get even more praised heaped upon her for this performance. She doesn't quite nail the accent, but she mostly delivers an interpretation of Marilyn that is uncannily close to the real person. There are also great performances from Cannavale, Brody, and Toby Huss (playing a friend/enabler as Marilyn starts to spiral into ever-bleaker depressive episodes). Some of the visuals are also worthy of praise, especially during many of the sequences shown in black and white, as are the moments that blur fiction and reality by making use of famous moments from Monroe's filmography. Those are all the compliments I have though.

In a problem similar to the overuse of CGI in modern cinema, or in the way Jurassic Park was created, there are things shown here that feel as if nobody stopped to question them. Dominik was too busy realising what he could do that he didn't wonder about whether or not he SHOULD. The prime example of this is a POV shot from inside our main character's cervix. Yes, you read that right.

I understand wanting to do something that shows the ongoing battle between the beloved figure of Marilyn Monroe and the insecure and sad reality of Norma Jeane Mortenson, and there are things that became known to people only after her tragic death in the early 1960s, but both the icon and the real woman overshadowed by the stardust deserve better than this. A couple of moments come close to making a great point (particularly a sequence showing the famous subway grate updraft in The Seven Year Itch), but things inevitably keep returning to a narrative that makes our central figure an abuse victim with serious daddy issues. That may or may not be an accurate portrayal, and there's certainly truths scattered throughout this, but deciding to show her character as defined ONLY by these elements, and doing that for over two and a half hours, feels unfair and simply malicious.

I'm still glad that I finally watched this for myself, if only for that astonishing turn from De Armas. I'll never watch it again though, and I would actively discourage anyone else watching it if they lack either my compulsive viewing schedule or patience.

3/10

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Mubi Monday: L'Amant Double AKA Double Lover (2017)

Another intriguing erotic thriller from director François Ozon, L’amant Double covers a hell of a lot of ground, veering between Hitchcock and Clouzot to Breillat and Cronenberg, and is yet another prime example of his mastery of blending genre thrills and psychosexual exploratory journeys.

Marine Vacth plays Chloé, a young woman who finally decides to try and help her mental state by seeing a psychoanalyst. That psychoanalyst is Paul (played by Jérémie Renier). Chloé and Paul eventually start developing a full relationship, one obviously full of gray morality and the potential for messy mind games, and things get more confusing when Chloé finds out that Paul has a twin brother, Louis, that he doesn’t ever acknowledge. Louis is also a psychoanalyst, and Chloé decides to start seeing him for therapy. And more. Louis is very different from Paul, he’s brusque and aggressive, something that is initially appealing to Chloé, but soon becomes very offputting.

Based on a Joyce Carol Oates novel from the 1980s, Ozon takes something which could easily be worked into sleazy, pulp, entertainment (and I am not saying that would necessarily be a worse adaptation) and crafts a study of intimacy, boundaries, and self-identity. It would seem to be easy for directors to work interesting imagery through any story dealing with twins, which makes it unsurprising that Ozon (who has so often explored characters projecting themselves upon others) fills almost every scene with ambiguity, reflections, and moments of people being both naked and covered in layers of what they hope is the armour needed to get them through tough periods in their life.

Vacth is very good in her role, showing alternating moments of strength and vulnerability, confused by those around her and unable to trust her own perspective. Renier does even better, although he also gets to have more fun in his dual roles. Distinctive enough in the two separate personalities, he also gets to confuse Vacth’s character by occasionally pretending to be whichever twin she wants to spend most of her time with. There are other people here, and some of the supporting characters are very important, but the film really belongs to Vacth and Renier.

If you have seen one film about twins who are polar opposites, and very manipulative, then you have seen them all. Sort of. But most of them are well worth your time. Ozon uses the ideas here to take viewers on a journey that becomes increasingly disorienting and harmful, which is a way of also saying that he works the material into a typical Ozon movie. If, like me, you are a fan of his work then that is no bad thing.

8/10

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