Trigger warning: sexual violence, suicide
Some spoilers ahead!
Marilyn Monroe, a name eternally engraved in our hearts and soul because of the aura exuded by her timeless beauty, still serves as an inspiration for many aspiring actresses hailing from different parts of the world. An actress who was equated with a goddess or an angel left us just at the age of 36.
An icon of pop culture who was considered to be sex symbol of the world, Monroe’s outer world might seem glossy and the glory she received might be desired by many, but delving deep into her inner world engulfed by her insecurities and traumatic childhood, we feel sorry for her.
This documentary film directed by Emma Cooper unfurls the mysteries surrounding Monroe’s death and also unveils the actual circumstances that lead to her death
Anthony Summers, the author of the book “Goddess”, while writing the book that revolves around Marilyn Monroe, got the information that the District Attorney of Los Angeles County was reopening the case of her death.
Marilyn Had A Broken Childhood In Foster Homes
Summers took this opportunity to research on her and her death, but was left utterly bewildered because he couldn’t fathom what actually made her commit suicide; or questions like if it was a suicide or a murder made, him disoriented. So, he decided to start from the beginning, like Monroe’s entry into Hollywood.
Anthony interviewed 650 people who are close to Monroe, either her acquaintances or close friends. The film expounds through those voice recordings which are actual voices lip synced by actors, an entirely different world of Monroe, which is unknown to the whole world.
Monroe was a victim of a broken childhood raised in more than ten foster homes and among guardians. She was an orphan who never wanted to admit that she was an orphan.
Marilyn, to escape the bitter truths of her past, probably chose to pursue her career as an actress in the glittering tinsel city of Hollywood, underneath which lurked darkness.
Marilyn Had Some Serious Daddy Issues
When Anthony interviewed Al Rosen, a Hollywood agent of Monroe’s times, we learn that every casting director of Hollywood in those days had a black book in which they noted down the names of the girls who could be laid.
And, that’s how they were selected. This suggests that maybe Monroe was also sexually exploited before she was launched as an actress by famous agents like Johnny Hyde who shaped her career.
As the film progresses and we witness more interviews of Marilyn’s associates, especially the interviews of the family members of her psychiatrist Ralph Greenson, we find that she was often driven to paranoid actions consequential of her broken childhood.
Marilyn always desired for a father-figure, a guardian who will guide her which made her involve in relationships with men like Dimaggio and Arthur Miller, who were twice her age.
Marilyn Lived An Emotionally Vulnerable Life
Marilyn was always frightened that she will be betrayed by the people she loved and her nature was replete with insecurities, that made her complex and difficult for people around, to understand her.
None of the people she was engaging with could ever understand what she really wanted and who she was. Monroe was one of the most famous women in the world, and yet, she wasn’t happy.
“Happiness. Does one ever know that?” she once said. She had all the fame one couldn’t possibly imagine to have achieved in a lifetime, still it couldn’t ensure her peace. As she said: “Fame is flickering.”
Due to her failed marriages and frequent miscarriages, Marilyn was emotionally vulnerable, and therefore, yearned for a shoulder to lean on. And, that’s when the Kennedy brothers came into her life, taking advantage of this situation of hers in order to share an intimacy which was only physical, not emotional.
The Kennedy Brothers Were Only Using Marilyn
However, Marilyn fell in love with both of them and considered them to be her confidant. But, being the former wife of a leftist like Miller, her company was considered to be detrimental for the reputation of both the President and the Attorney General, John and Robert Kennedy by the FBI, since Monroe was also labelled as a leftist by them.
The main aim of both the brothers, as taught by their father Ol’ Joe Kennedy was to, “Get laid as often as you can, with as many women as you want.“
Thus, when she was told directly by them not to call or contact them as narrated by her friend Arthur James, it devastated her terribly.
And, after a month, she died. For them, she was just a medium to quench their lust, but for her it was agonizing as she felt used by both of them. “She felt like a piece of meat.”
“The true things rarely get into circulation. It’s usually the false things.” The whole world knew Monroe committed suicide or died due to overdose of drugs, but nobody knew what lead her to die by suicide until Summers decided to dug up the truth from the abyss.
Marilyn’s Death Was Not Investigated Thoroughly
After interviews with various people like Fred Otash, the private investigator, Bill Woodfield, the photographer and journalist, Reed Wilson, the surveillance expert who worked under Otash, Jim Doyle, the senior FBI agent and Eunice Murray, Monroe’s housekeeper, Summers concluded that on the night of her death, she had a heat up conversation with Robert Kennedy.
Kennedy had come to town and was staying in his brother-in law Peter Lawford’s beach house at Malibu, where they met her for the first time. Monroe was enraged and didn’t want to engage in a conversation with him. Being in the emotionally distressed phase, this added fuel to her vulnerability making her die by suicide.
She collapsed at around 11 p.m. and was carried to the hospital in an ambulance, accompanied by her psychiatrist Dr Greenson, but she died midway and her body was returned to her house. She was placed in her bed and was discovered in the early morning hours.
Her interaction with Robert Kennedy was deliberately wiped out from the evidences and her death was not investigated properly as Harry Hall, the law enforcement informant said that,”….there was a hush-hush. Because the man that really was involved was the boss. He was the attorney-general of United States.”
Marilyn Was A Victim Of Her Circumstances
Ever since childhood, Monroe wanted to be an actress. “When I was a kid sitting in the front row..at the movies on Saturday afternoon and I’d think how wonderful it would be to be an actress….I would like to be a good actress.”
Marilyn made her debut in Hollywood at a very tender age and became a victim of the eminent men who wielded their power over her, crushing her and satiated their sexual desires at the cost of her.
She was taken advantage of and abused by almost all the men with whom she emotionally attached herself. The documentary highlights the tragedy of Monroe that the whole world was oblivious of, embedded inside her beauty and stardom.
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Written by Srilekha Mitra