After the review of the final cut of the film directed by Andrew Dominik, the delay of the film's release and its possible reception in the future is up in the air.
Trigger Warning: Contains mention of sexual abuse and rape.
The much-awaited Marilyn Monroe biopic, Blonde, has been given an NC-17 rating. This means that the viewing of the film is restricted for children under 17 who will not be allowed to watch the film even under adult supervision. The film was supposed to be released this year but was pushed for a 2022 release and was even expected to be an award season favorite. But after the review of the final cut of the film directed by Andrew Dominik, the delay of the film's release and its possible reception in the future is up in the air. This is possibly due to the jarring content in the film.
The film is based on the 2000 novel of the same name by Joyce Carol Oates. Oates has stressed that her book is a fictionalized narrative inspired by Monroe’s life, as per Vogue and she has used her story to paint a picture of the toxic nature of American celebrity rather than provide an accurate historical account of the actress' life. It outlines the young Norma Jeane's rise as a star in Hollywood as Marilyn Monroe as well as her formative years, concluding with her death which was rumored to have been an assassination after her affair with the Kennedy brothers.
The plot also includes a brutal and violent sexual assault of the 21-year-old Norma Jeane who goes to her first movie audition where the producer, Mr. Z rapes her. This is deemed as an audition deemed worthy of launching her acting career. There also seems to be another graphic scene involving "bloody menstrual c****lingus" which has added to the resistance from Netflix in green-lighting the project. But Dominik had expressed his determination in portraying the hardships Monroe had experienced in the film industry and pushing the boundaries in this biopic, as per Screenrant.
Oates who had seen an earlier rough cut of the film had this to say about the film, “I have seen the rough cut of Andrew Dominik’s brilliant adaptation and it is startling, brilliant, very disturbing, and [perhaps most surprisingly] an utterly feminist interpretation…not sure that any male director has ever achieved anything (like) this.” Ana de Armas has portrayed Monroe in the film and her performance in the film has already been predicted for nominations come award season. With the rating of the film and the critique it is already facing, the film may not receive critical acclaim as a whole but de Armas’s performance will be lauded it seems.
The Knives Out actress, who made waves with her role in the latest Bond film No Time to Die, has earned a nod of approval from the author of Blonde. “An exquisite portrait of Marilyn Monroe by Ana de Armas and director Andrew Dominik; one without the others could perhaps not have worked this magic,” she had tweeted.
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