This weekend marked the highly anticipated theatrical premier of the Netfix film Blonde, which has drawn attention in part due to its NC-17 rating for some risqué scenes.
While over the years there have been many movies about iconic actress Marilyn Monroe, she is portrayed in a new and sympathetic light by Ana de Armas, whose resume includes films like the comedic Knives Out, No Time to Die, and Netflix's 2022 action film The Gray Man.
The film is written and directed by Andrew Dominik who presents a bold vision of the Marilyn Monroe story. Its debut in September at the Venice Film Festival was greeted with an 11-minute standing ovation by the audience after the credits rolled.
But while Blonde has received critical acclaim, it also drew an NC-17 rating due to strong sexual content in the film. It is the first original film by Netflix to receive the rating.
"That was a bit of a surprise," said Andrew Dominik, the film's director in a social media post. "It was really #MeToo that allowed Blonde to happen. It was a gold moment where you had to believe a woman's perspective no matter what. Whereas before, I think people were really uncomfortable with how Blonde portrayed certain American sacred cows. And then it became a gold moment where it didn't matter if they were sacred cows or not. And that's why it got made, what allowed it to happen in the end."
The most recent big release to be branded with the NC-17 rating was the 2013 film Blue is the Warmest Color which was a critical success but was tagged with the rating due to its strong sexual content. That film earned $19.50 million at the box office.
Monroe's affairs with influential figures including then-President John F. Kennedy and the circumstances of her death at the age of just 36 means the former Hollywood diva remains well-known more than 60 years after her death.
"Our movie is not linear or conventional; it is meant to be a sensorial and emotional experience," De Armas said in an interview with Queue.
Based on the bestselling 2000 novel by Joyce Carol Oates, the story is one of a scared young woman trapped inside the career of a Hollywood superstar.
The film is full of reenactments of scenes from Monroe movie classics like The Seven-Year Itch and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
Alongside Cuban-born de Armas as Marilyn Monroe (born Norma Jeane Mortenson), the film's all-star cast takes on nameless versions of other famous Hollywood figures, which Monroe fans should be able to quickly piece together.
Adrien Brody and Bobby Cannavale play Monroe's two husbands, The Playwright (writer Arthur Miller) and The Ex-Athlete, (Baseball star Joe DiMaggio) and Julianne Nicholson plays Norma Jeane's mother, Gladys. The film also features Sara Paxton, Xavier Samuel and Evan Williams.
Blonde is now playing in select theaters and will stream on Netflix beginning September 28.
This story was provided to Newsweek by Zenger News.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
