Elena Sala's Reviews > Blonde

BLONDE (2000) is NOT a biography of Marilyn Monroe nor is it a biographical novel. This should be made clear from the start because readers who wish to know about her life will be disappointed by this accomplished novel. BLONDE is a work of fiction, of imagination, in which events that took place in Monroe's life are conflated and distilled in order to construct a novel around a myth, a celebrity of popular culture.

We are first introduced to Norma Jeane Baker, a vulnerable, naive illegitimate child who grew up in an orphanage and in foster homes; the girl who becomes Marilyn Monroe, the star, the blond doll, the voluptuous sexpot, the glamorous creation of the Hollywood studio system, a young woman who wanted to be a serious actress but was despised and considered a whore by the same misogynistic culture which invented and exploited her.

Rather than a biography of Marilyn Monroe, this is a story about implacable childhood traumas, about a world where women's bodies are considered as commodities as long as they make a (huge) profit for the predatory men who run the business. It is a novel about the exploitation of celebrity culture and the world of shallow artifice represented by Hollywood.

The film adaptation of this novel, also called BLONDE, directed by Andrew Dominik is very faithful to this novel. I think it is an excellent film, narrated in a non-linear and elliptical style, with a wonderful photography and a haunting music score by the great Nick Cave and Warren Ellis. And yet I was surprised to find that many viewers loathed it. Invariably, Monroe fans found it lacking because they were expecting to know more about her life. I would suggest that you look elsewhere if you wish to know about Monroe's life: both this novel and film will disappoint you.