Delilah Belle [Hamlin] tributed the Netflix movie ‘Blonde’ in these sensual, elegant images styled by Aleksandra Markovic. Photographer Dean Isidro [IG] is behind the lens for Grazia Italia’s November 2022 issue. / Hair by Riad Azar; makeup by Jodie Boland

It’s difficult to believe that ‘Blonde’, Andrew Dominik’s film adaptation of Joyce Carol Oates’ novel, starring Ana De Armas as a semi-fictionalized portrait of Marilyn Monroe received a 14-minute standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival and scored a flat 41% from reviewers on Rotten Tomatoes and a 32% score in 2500 audience ratings.

The Rotten Tomatoes reviewers ensemble was changed a few years ago to no longer be dominated by white men reviewers. In a post-Roe world, women were furious that 1) there is no record that Marilyn Monroe ever had an abortion, let alone two. And 2) the idea that a woman having an abortion has a convo with her fetus as the camera enters her vagina is absurd.

The vast majority of comments were that the movie was very difficult to watch in every aspect. The pushback was so strong that ‘Blonde’ dropped out of first place on Netflix in three days, and out of the top-10 in eight days.

Note that the multiple abortions were included in the original Joyce Carol Oates book ‘Blonde’. Back in 2000, this New York Times review of ‘Blonde’ was blistering.