The Oscars have certainly nominated their fair share of divisive movies and performances, butAndrew Dominik’sBlondeeasily ranks among the most controversial films to receive any nominations in recent memory. The adaptation ofJoyce Carol Oates’ fictionalized account ofMarilyn Monroeis the rare NC-17 film to receive a major release, and shocked the Venice Film Festival when it debuted in September. While international critics were somewhat mixed, the film earned nearly unanimous pans when it debuted on Netflix and in select American theaters for award season consideration. Despite these responses,Ana de Armasreceived her firstAcademy Awardnomination for her performance, an honor that Marilyn herself never received.
Bothreviews praising the filmand those that havecondemned its narrative choicesare fairly unanimous in their praise for de Armas, whose performance as the famous star cuts deeper than just an impersonation. It’s remarkable that de Armas is thefirst Cuban performerto ever get recognized, but she’s not the only person nominated for playing Marilyn.Michelle Williamswas also recognized for Best Actress for her performance in the 2011 biopicMy Week With Marilyn, another divisive film that shows a chapter of Marilyn’s life and contains homages to some of her most famous work.
WhileBlondeexamines Marilyn’s torture at the hands of the industry andMy Week With Marilynunpacks her complicated romantic affairs, they’re both films that are expressly about why she was such an icon in her time. Included in both are snippets of some of Marilyn’s best film roles in classics likeSome Like It Hot,Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,The Seven Year Itch,andHow To Marry A Millionaire. Yes, these performances are iconic, but they’ve become such an integral part of the popular culture mainstay because of Marilyn’s brilliance as a performer. Marilyn faced no recognition for anything but her physical appearance during her own time, but amidst the many personal challenges she faced, she gifted cinema with brilliant comedic performances. Perhaps the Oscars see their recognition for de Armas and Williams as a tribute, but it doesn’t excuse the exclusion Marilyn faced during her lifetime.
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Marilyn Monroe’s Brilliant Acting
Among the few accurate things about Marilyn’s lifethat were depicted inBlondewas her challenging childhood; Marilyn’s mother Gladys was hospitalized for paranoid schizophrenia, and she was transferred as a ward of the state to several abusive households. Her experience in the film industry was even more challenging and traumatizing, as she first received notices as a pin-up model and not an actress. Despite these unthinkably horrific circumstances (of whichBlondedepicts in explicitly graphic detail), Monroe gained a career in Hollywood working alongside such acclaimed filmmakers asJohn HustonandBilly Wilder.
What’s inspirational about this story isn’t the abuse that she endured, but the amazing battles she overcame as she delivered these classic roles. It’s unfair that Monroe was perceived as a “dumb blonde” during her lifetime, because that’s exactly the type of persona that she’s lampooning inSome Like It Hot. Sugar Kane is a restrained character who has to ignore the obvious con that Joe (Tony Curtis) and Jerry (Jack Lemmon) are pulling by pretending to be elderly women. As Curtis and Lemmon give exaggerated physical performances, Marilyn had to give off no signs of recognizing the oddness. It only makes the jokes even funnier, as remaining straight-faced while these veteran stars were riffing is not easy.
Some Like It Hotreceived six Academy Award nominations, as Wilder’s films were routinely met with Oscar recognition; he received eight Oscar nominations and two wins, and frequently saw his stars nominated. Yet, Marilyn’s performance was ignored, even though she is essential to why the film is such a classic. The acclaim forSome Like It Hot’s other contributors only makes it more evident who was left out. What’s sad was it wasn’t an anomaly; Marilyn showed her range with riveting dramatic performances inThe MisfitsandBus Stop, proving that she could sustain a character for a more central role.
Why Are They Nominating These Performances?
It’s hard to fault either Williams or de Armas for their performances, as they’re both captivating when they’re on screen. Yet, Williams is giving a fictionalized, heightened performance;My Week With Marilynisn’t about her skills as an artist, but rather a melodrama about the affair she had with Colin Clark (Eddie Redmayne). It’s a film that still indulges in the obsession over Marilyn’s physicality from the perspective of a male character who experiences wish fulfillment. Even ifSimon Curtiswas intending to deconstruct Marilyn, he’s guilty of also fantasizing about her.
Blondeis even more extreme,as Dominik’s comments to the pressin defense of his vision speak for themselves, making it abundantly clear that he was not the right person to tell this story. While the original novel is clearly marked as fiction, the film recreates so many iconic moments from her career that it’s clearly exploiting her popularity. Even if Dominik has defended the film as a work of fiction, it’s presented as a factual recount. It’s strange that Dominik citesCitizen Kaneas a piece of inspiration;Orson Welleshad used the story ofWilliam Randolph Hearstto create Charles Foster Kane, but didn’t use his name.
It’s not that showing Marilyn’s trauma asBlondedoes is the issue, although Dominik’s obsession with sexual abuse and humiliation deserves to be examined. The larger problem is that’s the only thing he focuses on;Blondeis a film that never seeks to understand the talent that Marilyn had, and why it’s even more impressive in wake of what she endured. The Oscars are willing to nominate Williams and de Armas for dramatizing Marilyn’s hardships, butthey never celebrated her successes.
The Academy Awards are hardly the only Hollywood industry that owes a long needed apology to Marilyn. This is an industry that has been profiting off of her likeness for years, and it’s taken decades for some people to realize how much of their perception of Marilyn is based on antiquated stereotypes. Williams and de Armas are brilliant, defiant performers that worked hard to bring depth to their roles. Marilyn did too, she just never was awarded for it.
