Won’t she be coming with us?” She did not get the contract. “Especially since I’m so eager to meet your lovely wife. “I’d love to spend some time with you on your yacht, Mr. After her first film, L adies of the Chorus, studio head Harry Cohn came on to her in his office and demanded she spend the weekend on his yacht. But she dealt with it on her own terms and tried to maintain a semblance of dignity. What happened in real life: Marilyn was a victim of the casting couch, as were many women (and some men) then. Later she is surprised that she has been offered the contract. As usual, she is weak, vacuous and complacent while the violation is taking place. What happens in the movie: A young Marilyn goes to a meeting, thinking it’s an interview that could land her a movie contract. The movie omits that she was one of the first women to defy the studio system and form her own production company. Politically savvy, she challenged the House Un-American Activities Committee and had the guts to demand better scripts and director approval. She loved children and was one of the first celebrities to speak out about child abuse. Blonde strips her of her well-known wit, charm and intelligence. But she was passionately determined to improve herself, to overcome her demons, to dare herself to climb higher, to be great. She grew up in an abusive foster care system and suffered from chronic depression and insomnia. She did have enormous problems and was a tragic figure. The film might make you think Marilyn was a bewildered nitwit too stupid to protest her vile violations, a chessboard piece moved around by loathsome, violent, perverted, lecherous men. But there isn’t a line uttered in the film that Marilyn actually said. With skill, cinematographer Chayse Irvin visually re-creates iconic moments in her life. The locations, clothes and hairdos look right. In fairness, both director Andrew Dominik and Joyce Carol Oates, who wrote the novel he adapted, have been up front about Blonde being a complete fiction. It goes to fictitious extremes to degrade and humiliate her. The new film Blonde reduces her to a lewd and unfunny punch line. All she wanted was for people to respect and love her. “Please don’t make me a joke,” Marilyn Monroe pleaded to a journalist shortly before she died.

Ana de Armas as Marilyn Monroe in 'Blonde.'

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