Sixty years after her mysterious death at the age of 36, Marilyn Monroe still intrigues and fascinates. The star is in the spotlight of a biopic, Blonde hair, uploaded Wednesday, September 28 on Netflix. The documentary Marilyn, woman of todaydirected by Raphaëlle Baillot and Céline Chassé, available for replay on the france.tv platform, sheds new light on the American star, and more particularly on her commitment against racism and for the cause of women in cinema.
Quintessence of the Hollywood myth, the actress was adored, coveted, desired and sacrificed on the altar of fame. A myth among myths, Marilyn Monroe was the embodiment of male fantasy of the woman-child. Often confined to the roles of sex symbol, woman-object, brainless ingenue, she was however much more complex than that. Modern and free woman, mistress of her destiny, the one who conscientiously built her character, was a true pioneer in many fields.
“Marilyn Monroe, she’s a heroine, she’s a fighter, underlines the psychoanalyst Gérard Miller, in the documentary. She is an undeniable figure of what could be called ‘women’s activism’. And she was a woman who was always sensitive to the cause of black people, who was able to put herself in danger to support this cause.
In an America of the 1950s plagued by racial segregation, of which Rosa Park would become one of the symbols, Marylin Monroe took up the cause of the black singer Ella Fitzgerald. “One of the Los Angeles clubs, the Mocambo, refused like the others to program Ella Fitzgeraldrelates the Swiss writer and editor Bernard Comment. And Marilyn went to see the boss of Mocambo, she told him: ‘I absolutely want Ella Fitzgerald to give shows here. I’m going to come to the front row every night to support her.'”
Marylin Monroe is also one of the first to denounce, in 1953 in a forum, the sexual predators who haunt Hollywood studios. The article published in the magazine Motion Pictures is called “Wolves I Have Known” (“These wolves that I crossed”), in reference to Little Red Riding Hood. “There are several kinds of wolves. Some are mean, others are profiteers who help themselves without giving anything in return and still others make a sport out of it”she wrote.
“In particular, she will talk about the many times she was told that in order for her to have a role, she must, for example, sleep or let herself be touched by men.says Pauline Mallet, editor-in-chief of the magazine Sorocine. Five years after the start of the “MeToo” movement, these revelations about Marylin Monroe take on another dimension and make the actress a woman rooted in a reality that resonates more than ever today. “Me, I think she’s swinging her pig out early, analyzes the author Leïla Slimaniand then I have the impression that this text too, what makes it very modern is that it is addressed to women.”
The documentary Marilyn, woman of todayby Raphaëlle Baillot and Céline Chassé, broadcast as part of the program ‘Le Doc Stupéfiant’, presented by Léa Salamé, is available on France 5 until November 12, 2022.