"Blonde"

Wow.  So much to unpack here.  So.  Much.  First and foremost, this is a movie about a real person based on a fictional novel, so don't look for reality.  And when it comes to Marilyn Monroe, what are the facts?  What is reality?  Much like "Spencer" this isn't a retelling of the woman's career but rather, an internal look at the mind of Norma Jeane.  It's just about a million times better than "Spencer."  The brilliance of the film is evident in a lot of ways.  Ana de Armas does a lovely job capturing the childlike innocence of the woman's public persona and allows her true intelligence and insight to break through now and then.  (My one complaint is that Ana de Armas is very petite and Marilyn was downright zaftig.  So much for Hollywood learning the lesson about trying to fit women into a set ideal of beauty.)  The filming is detailed and beautiful.  There are glimpes of her films but more than that we see the world from Norma's eyes.  There is hope and promise ... dashed, bleary-eyed/drug-induced confusion, an unconnectedness of herself to the people and of events in her life.  There is constant questioning and insecurity.  And there is a switch, so subtle at first that I missed it.  The film is in color, then in black and white, then in color again.  Back and forth, back and forth.  What are these changes meant to convey?  The past and present?  Reality vs imagination?  Norma or Marilyn?  About half-way through I decided it had something to do with her mood.  You know how depression can turn the world grey?  Like that.  Maybe.  Who knows?  And that's the rub.  We don't know the mind of Marilyn.  She has been written about, analyzed, explored for 60+ years now.  Men wanted her, women wanted to be her.  Everyone around her seemed to want to take from her, use her, abuse her.  Some people in her life wanted to own her.  But who was she, really?  Not an icon but a person.  A broken person, certainly.  One who loved often but not too wisely, perhaps.  Beyond that ... well, for all the films and books and fascination, we don't know.  We most likely will never know who she really was.  What she thought, what she felt.  She may not have known those things herself -- more the tragedy.  Collectively we put people up on these pedestals, make them into symbols or gods, and then they die (MJ, Whitney, Robin Williams, etc etc etc) and there is a nagging sense of guilt.  Did our idolization contribute to their tragics ends?  Would there have been a way of caring about them rather than being part of the vampire horde sucking them dry?  Would it have made a difference?  There is a lot of talk about this film.  Everyone has their opinions.  Me, as well (obviously).  But none of it matters.  The Marilyn we talk about today is fiction.  Norma Jeane was a human being.  One who will forever remain a mystery.