Not even Ana de Armas’ beauty saved ‘Blonde’: Netflix declares the film a failure

Even before ‘Blonde’ was released in the Netflix catalog, the film about the life of Norma Jeane, or better known as Marylin Monroe, was already one of the most controversial of the year, both for the explicitness of some scenes, and for or for the performance by Ana de Armas. Now that it’s out, Andrew Dominik’s film has failed to keep up with the numbers and has been declared a flop.

Last September 8 ‘blonde’premiered at the Venice Film Festival, where Ana de Armas received a standing ovation for her portrayal of Marylin Monroe. However, the critics did not have the same words for the rest of the film. Some of the less favorable comments cast doubt on the need to harness Norma Jeane’s pain throughout the film, based on Joyce Carol Oates’ book of the same name.

For his part, Andrew Dominik, director of the biopic (with some fictional additions), was also criticized and accused of presenting the life of Marylin Monroe in a controversial way. Deadline reports that, during its opening week, ‘blonde’ It only reached second place in Netflix’s global Top 10a figure that assumes a failure due to an overproduction of this level.

‘Blonde’ has gotten more than 37 million hours of viewing since its release, not a bad number considering it had a budget of $ 22 million, but not enough to surpass ‘Lou’, an action thriller film. , which took first place with 47 million hours watched worldwide.

Ana de Armas and the controversy on the scenes of ‘Blonde’

‘Blonde’ strongly divided those who could already see him, between those who defend him and those who hated every minute lasting 166 minutes. Regarding the controversial scenes, Ana de Armas had to declare that she never felt “exploited” for showing her body in the film, indeed, she praised Dominik for making her feel “very protected and safe”.

“It’s harder for people to see [esas escenas] that I did them for me, because I understood what I was doing […] I didn’t feel exploited because I was in control. I made that decision. She knew what movie she was making. I trusted my director. I felt like I was in a safe environment. We have had hundreds of conversations about these scenes, ”referring to moments in which physical and sexual abuse of Marylin Monroe is shown.

Precisely the moments that Ana de Armas has indicated to “annoy” the public, are those that have cost her not to meet the expectations of Netflix, together with the negative reviews of the film. We’ll have to wait to find out if the company finally decides to campaign so Ana de Armas can be considered for a 2023 Oscar nomination.