By: Miguel Ernesto Yusty

Ana de Armas is one of five artists nominated for the 2023 Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role. This nomination recognizes her work in the film Blonde, produced and released by Netflix the previous year. This is significant because the film has been criticized for failing to meet audience expectations and, strangely, also by the specialized press, who don't see in it the qualities that a pop culture icon like Marilyn Monroe deserves. Thus, combining events such as the long standing ovation it received at the Venice Film Festival and the eight Razzie nominations, which identify poor-quality films, the film tackles controversial aspects of Monroe's life in such an iconoclastic way that it leaves no viewer indifferent.

De Armas, a Cuban actress, achieved significant recognition on Spanish television before moving to Hollywood and landing prominent roles in increasingly important films. To understand her talent, it's essential to watch films like BLADE RUNNER 2049 (2017), KNIVES OUT (2019), and DEEP WATER (2022). Her work in these films makes it clear that her physical attractiveness is complemented by acting talent and intelligence sufficient to give each character the necessary depth. Therefore, her Marilyn is a nuanced woman with above-average intellectual capabilities, but these are obscured by her captivating beauty. It is in her gray areas that the audience feels confronted, uncomfortable, and unsettled.

BLONDE, directed by Andrew Dominik, portrays Marilyn Monroe as willing to learn from all the lessons the world inflicts. Vulnerable, almost malleable, she is a being who doesn't fit the mold of a society tailored to men, and that's why she dies, condemned to be a figure recognized by the masses, yet condemned from childhood to disappear tragically. It's possible that Ana de Armas found points of connection with Monroe. For example, both are metaphors for the foreigner, the stranger, the "extraterrestrial," always fragile, trying to learn in order to survive. Both are magnetic because of their beauty, but outsiders because they are artists and in danger because they don't fit into any category. That's why the public didn't quite grasp the film, but time has tempered opinions and put everything in its place. For now, de Armas has already been nominated for the 2023 Oscar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOQgM-AyoEw