Marilyn Monroe fascination comes to Netflix with 'Blonde'

This combination of images released by Netflix shows Ana de Armas as Marilyn Monroe in "Blonde." (Netflix via AP)

Marilyn Monroe has been dead for 60 years, but there is still a kind of madness around her that remains. Just look at the frenzied discourse around "Blonde," an adaptation of Joyce Carol Oates' fictional portrait of the Hollywood star that has yet to be seen by the general public.

There was intrigue around its NC-17 rating and the reasons for its long delay in release (it was filmed before the pandemic). There was curiosity about its star, Ana de Armas, and her native Cuban accent slipping through in the trailer. Meanwhile, its director Andrew Dominik, who has been trying to make this film for well over a decade, was calling it a masterpiece.