Movie Review: Blonde
Ana de Armas as Marilyn Monroe

‘Blonde’ is a powerful, yet disturbing exploration of the life of Marilyn Monroe.

Driven by a charismatic, mesmerising performance by Ana de Armas (nominated for an Oscar for Leading Actress), the film tells the story of the fragile and vulnerable Norma Jean and her famous, sex-bomb alter ego, Marilyn Monroe.

Though I applaud that the Director Andrew Dominik (‘The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford’, ‘Chopper’) made such bold choices, there are multiple times during the movie where he just plainly oversteps the mark into an overly cruel, relentless (and not particularly true) retelling of Marilyn’s story.

This is a messy and hard to watch movie with de Armas crying or naked – or both – in nearly every scene.

Overly long at 3 hours, this film is a star-performance from de Armas, but ultimately a bit of a slog. I would recommend this film to someone with the time, patience and capacity for a difficult watch.