A Review of Blonde by Nick Olszyk
Distribution Service: Netflix
MPAA Rating, NC-17
USCCB Rating, Not Rated at the time of this review
Reel Rating, Two Reels
Blonde
is long, often treacherous, Orphean journey through the sad life of Marilyn
Monroe. Breaking common biopic narratives, director Andrew Dominik channels
David Lynch and Terrance Mallick by creating a plot line that loops backwards
and forwards, jumps awkwardly between formats and realities, all to evoke not so
much the events of Monroe’s life but her experience of it. While certainly
successful in articulating the trauma of her story, the film does precious
little to give her, and the audience, peace. It’s a lot of sound and fury but signifies
almost nothing.
Norma
Jeane Mortenson was hated before she was even born. Her mother Gladys (Julianna
Nicholson) got pregnant while engaged, causing the father to swiftly abandon
them. “That is your father,” she tells six-year-old Norma (Lily Fisher in a
brilliant performance) gazing up at a picture that might or might not be her dad.
“He left because of you.” Gladys gradually descends into madness, even
attempting to drown Norma at one point. This sets a precedent that continues for
the rest of the film. While certainly mentally unwell, there is no evidence
Gladys ever tried to kill her daughter. Rather, it is a visual way of
displaying her hatred and Norma’s childhood anxiety. It certainly felt like
her mother wanted her dead.
After
being sent to an orphanage, Norma makes her way to Hollywood, adopting the
stage name Marilyn Monroe (Ana de Armas). Although willing to cast and photograph
her, no one takes her seriously as an actress, and nearly every man she encounters
uses her for his own sexual gratification. By some miracle, Monroe retains her
childhood goodness and optimism, hoping one day to meet her father and earn his
love. This legitimate desire soon turns perverse as she seeks this love in the
arms of abusive men, calling every husband and lover “daddy.” When Joe DiMaggio
beats her, she blames herself. When JFK demands fellatio, she offers no
resistance.
One
aspect that was especially intriguing, and which the secular
press found predictably revolting, was the film’s treatment of her desire
to have children. She was pregnant three times and suffered three miscarriages
due to endometriosis. In the film’s imagination, two of these pregnancies end
in forced abortions. Dominik goes inside Monroe’s womb to show the audience the
developing fetus, and she is gleefully excited at the prospect of being a
mother and chance to give a child the love she never experienced.
Unfortunately, this never happens. The abortions, while not overly graphic, are
brutal and painful. Though no pro-life rhetoric is found, by honestly and
directly showing the pain of abortion to the mother and child, the film has
been demonized
as anti-abortion. Yes, this is true. Reality is anti-abortion. For this
reason alone, the film deserves significant credit.
The
height of Monroe’s fame came right at the start of the sexual revolution, and
she was one its most high-profile victims. The film sits comfortably in the
modern #MeToo movement, accurately showing lecherous men who abuse and exploit
women for their own lustful and prideful desires. Yet like this movement, a
solution to the crisis is wanting. Monroe most “positive” relationship seems to
be the fling she had early in the narrative with two gay men, yet that is
revealed, in the final scenes of the movie, to be the most toxic partnership of
all. The solution is not in sexual indulgence and certainly not in wanton killing
of the unborn. It is found in upholding the dignity of every human as a child
of God.
Everyone
searches for “Daddy,” and some are lucky enough to have very good fathers. Yet no
merely human individual can ultimately bring peace. That alone comes from God.
This hope is almost completely absent from Blonde, and when it does
briefly appear at the end, is ambiguous at best. Since no one in Blonde
or real life offered this poor young woman the dignity she deserved, I will end
with a prayer. It’s the least we can do.
“May the Lord God, who hears
the cry of the poor, grant mercy and rest to His servant Norma. May every sin
of hers be forgiven, and may she rest in the Place where the just repose. Receive
her three children, who were taken so early in life, into your bosom. May they
enjoy the beatific vision together with their Mother, united as a family at
last, forever in Your grace.
Have mercy on us as well, that
we might create a culture of life, love, and dignity for all people, especially
those hurt by the crimes of this age. For you are a help to the helpless, a hope
to the hopeless, and the source of all Life.
Through the prayers of the Holy Innocents, Sts. Zelie and Louis Martin, St. Gianna Molla, and St. Maria Goretti, bless Norma, her children, and all of us. Amen.”
This article first appeared in Catholic World Report on October 4th, 2022.
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