Deeply divisive Monroe biopic 'Blonde' hits Netflix

While there is almost universal praise for the visceral lead performance by Ana de Armas, critics cannot agree whether the uncompromising, nearly three-hour film is an artistic tour de force or another cruel layer of exploitation perpetrated against the 20th century icon.

For ID magazine, "Blonde" is "guttural, instinctive, anguished filmmaking that bends space, time, and every cinematic tool at its disposal in service of attaining emotional truth".

Or viewers might take the position of the New Yorker's Richard Brody, who called it "ridiculously vulgar", seeing the endless torment that Monroe experiences on-screen as "a special kind of directorial sadism".

There are certainly no punches being pulled by Australian director Andrew Dominik in his adaptation of the hit semi-fictional book of the same name by Joyce Carol Oates.

Armas told reporters at the Venice Film Festival, where the film premiered this month, that she had to go to "uncomfortable, dark and vulnerable" places for the role.

"She was all I thought about, all I dreamed about, all I could talk about. She was with me, and it was beautiful," she said.

The crew filmed in the real locations where Monroe was born and died, with Dominik saying the shoot "took on elements of a seance".

- 'Sense of awe' -
It is a star-making turn for Armas, who worked for months with a vocal coach to overcome her Cuban accent and find a voice that could express Monroe's character as well as her own unique intonations.

"Blonde" is "a demanding movie," he told Screen Daily. "If the audience doesn't like it, that's the f---ing audience's problem. It's not running for public office."