Critics and Viewers Lash Out: ‘So Sexist,’ ‘Cruel’ and ‘One of the Most Detestable Movies’ Ever Made
But the NC-17 drama is leaving many subscribers outraged Many critics and viewers are calling it “sexist,” “cruel” and “one of the most detestable movies” ever made.
“Given all the indignities and horrors that Marilyn Monroe endured during her 36 years, it is a relief that she didn’t have to suffer through the vulgarities of ‘Blonde,’ the latest necrophiliac entertainment to exploit her,” wrote New York Times film critic Manohla Dargis in her negative review.
“I had the extreme misfortune of watching ‘Blonde’ on Netflix last night and let me tell you that movie is so anti-abortion, so sexist, so exploitative,” added Steph Herold, an abortion researcher at the University of California, San Francisco. “Cannot recommend it LESS. Do not watch. The abortion scenes in particular are terrible, but so is the whole entire movie.”
Herold added, “It depicts Marilyn being coerced into her first abortion, screaming on the table that she’s changed her mind, and then she hallucinates finding a crying baby in her childhood home, which is engulfed in flames.”
Justin Chang, film critic for the Los Angeles Times, wrote in his review, “The film isn’t really about Marilyn Monroe. It’s about making her suffer.”
One viewer claimed on Twitter that the film exists to “put Norma/Marilyn in a box that only allows her to be abused, sexualized, or to call people daddy,” adding, “Maybe we stop letting misogynistic men try to make groundbreaking films about women of which they know nothing about.”
“Blonde” is now streaming on Netflix.