Netflix's 'Blonde' Grilled Over "Offensive and Unnecessary" NC-17 Scenes
It looks like Ana de Armas' casting was the least of the movie's problems.
Netflix 's Marilyn Monroe biopic 'Blonde' starring Ana de Armas received an 11-minute-long ovation at the Venice Film Festival last week, but it turns out not everyone was ready to join the rounds of applause.
According to the first reviews that start emerging online, 'Blonde' is going to "start a war" as soon as it gets released. Among the reasons listed in a review by detectivezink on Letterboxd is the excessive amount of explicit scenes that seem to have no artistic value and rather look like an act of exploitation of Marilyn Monroe's image.
"She is basically a sex toy and constantly manipulated by various men. She is unnecessarily topless in nearly all the scenes in the second half of the film," the user continues. "It's painfully higher than normal. Like the director wants to see her topless deliberately."
Moreover, according to the review, the camera is "continuously focusing on her panties" as Ana de Armas' character does the iconic Monroe pose. The review blasts the movie for going as far as "a pov abortion shot."
The review has quickly gone viral, with fans up in arms to lambast the creative team behind the movie for "exploiting" Marilyn Monroe.
"[I]t's described as a "fictionalized narrative," but in all honesty, people do and will see this as a biopic rather than what it really is: an extremely exploitative movie [...] of a dead woman who was constantly exploited while she was alive. She's never gotten a break-even in death. Too many still believe the lies like the jfk affair & this movie will only spread more lies about her," Twitter user emobegone mentioned.
Other people who have already got the chance to watch the movie argue that all things mentioned in the review are put in the movie deliberately and actually serve quite well to drive the director's point home. Some are arguing that the movie is "a representation of abuse and sexualization that should make you uncomfortable."
But this point apparently doesn't sit well with many.
"I'd agree with you if the subject of the film wasn't a real person who isn't here to consent nor defend herself. It's creepy in the context of the real Norma and whatever artistic statement it's trying to make will fall on deaf ears consequently." – @wendycocaine
Rated NC-17, 'Blonde' is set to be released on Netflix on September 23. Based on the eponymous novel by Joyce Carol Oates, the movie is directed by Andrew Dominik.