YMMV / Blonde

• Alternative Character Interpretation: Why did Cass write letters to Norma Jeane pretending to be her father? Did he do it out of good intentions and is just trying to make her feel better, or is he trying to gaslight her? Given that he and Eddy do blackmail Joe with some nude photos of her later, it's likely the latter, but his motives are still ambiguous enough to be up for debate.
• Anvilicious: This movie very much wants you to know that Marilyn Monroe had an incredibly painful personal life, exacerbated by the sexism of Hollywood and society as a whole. To some, the sheer lengths it goes to convey this crosses the line into mean-spiritedness and even exploitation.
• Awesome Music: Even amongst the negative reviews of the film, Nick Cave's score was singled out for praise. In fact some reviews cite this along with de Armas performance as the film's few redeeming qualities.
• Best Known for the Fanservice: Ana de Armas gets nude A LOT during the movie, with her getting topless multiple times and being involved in multiple sex scenes. Even shortly before its release, de Armas herself lamented that the sex scenes would go viral, as she believed it would overshadow the movie and instead make its way on adult websites, and indeed, a majority of them showed up on adult websites and subreddits the following day.
• Dancing Bear: It's the first Netflix movie to have an NC-17 rating, which, in some viewers' eyes, is the most notable aspect. This rating brought a lot of attention it wouldn’t have had otherwise and was the subject of controversy. Some have theorized that while most directors would attempt to appeal the rating to get an R instead, Andrew Dominik decided not to appeal the rating so as to draw more attention to the movie.
• Don't Shoot the Message: Several critics and general viewers have noted that the film wants to criticize and deconstruct the abuse, excessive sexualization and exploitation Norma Jeane Mortensen (and numerous women like her) went through in Hollywood, which is certainly not a bad thing, but that the execution is flawed; it's been argued that beyond graphically depicting Norma Jeane suffering one occurrence of trauma and degradation after another, the film doesn't have much else to say on the subject (which also tends to reduce Norma Jeane herself to being a helpless victim), and at times even feels like it indulges in the same exploitation of Norma Jeane it tries to condemn.
• Heartwarming Moments:
  • While their marriage ends very badly, Norma Jeane and Joe's first meeting is rather sweet, given that he sympathizes with her struggles and her desire to be seen as a serious actress, and notes that he knows what it's like to be lonely in the way that she is.
  • Norma Jeane's marriage with Arthur Miller before her miscarriage is shown to be a happy and loving one, with her having the freedom to be herself and not Marilyn while he is one of the few characters who treats her like a person instead of symbol to be exploited. It's one of the very few, if not the only, times where Norma Jeane is genuinely and truly happy.
  • Before their marriage, Norma Jeane auditions for a Broadway play that Arthur has written. At first he's unimpressed by her performance, but he warms to her when she's able to give him some insightful analysis on her character. One particular suggestion moves him so much that he begins to tear up and sincerely thanks Norma Jeane for her insight.
• Just Here for Godzilla: Some tuned in to see the first feature film by Andrew Dominik in nearly a decade (he'd done two documentaries on Nick Cave in the meantime, one of which came out the same year as this), some tuned in for the NC-17 rating, and some tuned in to see Ana de Armas get nude.
• Narm:
  • The poorly CGI'd fetuses interspersed throughout the latter half of an otherwise visually stunning film are out of place and quite funny. It gets even funnier when at one point, a talking CGI fetus has a conversation with Marilyn, berating her for having a (forced) abortion in the past.
  • The scene where Joe storms back home after discovering Norma Jeane's nude photos, slaps a topless Norma Jeane and throws the photos at her is often brought up as being unintentionally hilarious due to the POV shot and Norma Jeane being naked for no reason.
• Nightmare Fuel: The scene where Norma Jeane is raped by President Kennedy is very unsettling, even if the audience is spared the worst of it. The part where he forces Norma Jeane to give him a blowjob is uncomfortable to watch, especially as he keeps pressuring her to do it, while she's already intoxicated and dazed from some pills she'd taken earlier. She eventually ends up vomiting in his bed and hallucinates having an abortion while being taken away.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Some viewers have lamented that the film focuses solely on the painful, miserable parts of Norma Jeane's life (especially since the movie isn't a straight biopic - to the point the filmmakers labeled it "biographical fiction" well before release - and it's dubiously accurate at best), while glossing over or ignoring other aspects of her life and personality, such as her intelligence (contrasting her Dumb Blonde public image), her progressive social views, her friendship with Ella Fitzgerald and so on. It's been noted that the film seems more interested in depicting Norma Jeane as an unstable victim and focusing on her troubled relationships with the men in her life, than exploring her in more depth.
• Too Bleak, Stopped Caring: Some viewers are turned away from the movie due to its extremely dark and depressing nature, which some argue is little more than emotional torture porn. Norma Jeane's life starts off miserable, what with her abusive, unstable mother and absent father. It then gets worse, with domestic abuse, unwanted abortions, a miscarriage, drug addiction and sexual violence, all of which is portrayed graphically. It's also a Foregone Conclusion that Norma Jeane dies alone of an overdose at just 36 years old.
• Took the Bad Film Seriously: The movie got lukewarm reviews at best and proved to be highly controversial for the way it handles its subject matter, but star Ana de Armas received a lot of praise for her emotional performance as Norma Jeane/Marilyn, with even the most scathing reviews of the film singling out her performance as the saving grace of the film. Noticeably, during awards season the film was mostly shut out of nominations — with the exception of de Armas's performance, which got Best Actress nominations at the Academy Awards, the BAFTA, the Golden Globes and the Screen Actors Guild. Conversely, the film swept the Golden Raspberry Award nominations with eight, and went on to win for Worst Picture and Screenplay, but de Armas was conspicuously absent, even though the actors who played Cass and Eddy got Worst Supporting Actor nominations.
• What Do You Mean, It's Not Political?: Many viewers have interpreted the film as anti-abortion due to its heavy focus on Norma Jeane having had multiple abortions and regretting them (especially given that while it's known that Monroe had miscarriages, there's no historical evidence of her having abortions, let alone regretting them), although Andrew Dominik claims this is unintentional. It probably didn't help that the movie was released concurrently with the abortion debate in the United States resurging in prominence, due to the overturning of Roe v. Wade just three months before its premiere.

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