The shock film Blonde created controversy when it was released on Netflix for its total revisit of the life of Marilyn Monroe. Director Andrew Dominik returned to the critics and the reactions of the spectators.
Expected for several years, the fake biopic on Marilyn Monroe worn by Ana de Armas made a lot of noise when it was released in September on Netflix. Subject to many controversies, especially on the sex scenes and the violent sequences, Blonde by Andrew Dominik has divided the public as much as the critics.
The adaptation of the novel by Joyce Carol Oates – who supported the film – unleashed passions with reviews as strong as “best film of the year” and “endless hell”.
The director of Blonde happy to have shocked with his film
A few months later, the director takes stock of the reception given to his long-standing project. In a conversation at the Red Sea International Film Festival in Saudi Arabia, reported by RT Canada, Andrew Dominik defended his vision and his controversial feature film:
“The review only hurts if you agree with it, and I really didn’t agree with any of that. I expected critical acclaim and no one to see the movie. Blonde was kind of the opposite. In America, they hated the movie. They were angry, outraged by the movie – but a lot of people saw the movie. I was kind of surprised by it.”
netflix
If they did not expect so many people to see the film, the director is rather happy to have shocked his audience:
“I’m Australian, from Melbourne and came of age in the 80s at a time when offending one’s audience was a solemn duty. The film industry is moving less and less in this direction. The film industry cinema and society in general have become very concerned about this, they don’t want to offend people. I’m glad Blonde has outraged so many people.”
The director did not understand the virulent criticism of his film and in particular the comments underlining the fact that he would exploit the memory of Marilyn Monroe. Andrew Dominik made a point of proposing this radical vision and jostled the public’s ideas:
“What they really mean is that the movie tapped into their memory of her, their image of her, which is fair enough. But that’s the whole idea of the movie. It’s trying to take the iconography of his life and put it to use in something else is to try to take things that are familiar to you, and turn their meaning inside out. But that’s what they don’t want. see.”
Blonde is available on Netflix.