Photo: Netflix
Ana de Armasdelivers an “uncanny,” “powerful” and “committed” performance as Marilyn Monroe in the divisive new movieBlonde, critics say.
Reviews for the new film launched Thursday after its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival, with the majority of film critics praising de Armas, 34, for her work as a fictionalized version of the Hollywood icon in the nearly three-hour movie.
Vanity Fair’s Richard Lawsonwrotethat the actress is “fiercely, almost scarily committed to the role, maintaining high and focused energy through every torrent of tears and screams and traumas” and crafts a “vivid and frightening picture of the madness of fame.”
She “carries the film squarely on her shoulders,” according toDeadline’sDamon Wise, describing her performance as “all-in, ferociously emotional but complex in its nuances as it explores the child-like sex symbol’s many paradoxes.”
Sophie Monks Kaufman wrote in anIndieWire reviewthat de Armas' “uncanny resemblance to Marilyn takes the film a long way.” David Rooney wrote forThe Hollywood Reporterthat her “raw” performance “strips the most examined woman in pop-culture history bare, literally and metaphorically.”
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“But,” added Rooney, “as [the movie] lurches on well past the 2-hour mark, spiraling deeper into nightmare,Blondebecomes a lurid horror movie, at times overwhelmingly unpleasant.”
“De Armas’s intense and ultimately persuasive performance goes a long way towards bringing the goddess down to earth, but will that be enough?” wroteThe Guardian’sLeslie Felperin, who later added, “Some viewers might feel that at times the film itself slips into an exploitativeness that is problematic.”
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Kaufman saidBlonde"sets out to show a lifetime of victimization and exploitation," saying the character “is monotonously characterized as a victim” throughout.Empire’s Catherine Bray said de Armas' “performance is powerful, but her wings feel clipped; there’s only a limited sense across the hefty runtime that Monroe is evolving as a result of what she experiences.”
Still,Variety’sOwen Gleiberman said de Armas' performance is a standout: “No actress alive is going to look just like Monroe … but with Marilyn the voice is everything — that’s where her personality lives — and de Armas nails it to an uncanny degree. InBlonde, she gives us nothing less than what we came for. She becomes Marilyn Monroe.”
Blondeis on Netflix Sept. 23.
source: people.com
