i'd rather get a tobacco enema than watch this melodramatic crock of shit vaguely marketed as neither biopic nor a fictional story but an in-between retelling of norma's life in her perspective, based on joyce carol oates' creative writing assignment with the same title, examining norma's life and point of view in the name of "feminism." 

unfortunately it may be likely that the pretty visuals, makeup and costumes will gain accolades that outweigh the well-deserved outrage against the exploitative narrative that takes away norma's agency as opposed to returning it to her. i don't believe there were any good intentions in this at all. her story is no one's to tell but hers and it's disingenuous for both oates and dominik to even claim that they intended to tell this story with empathy towards norma. i believe they're just using her to indulge in their creative abilities, however pretentiously utilized i'm sure they are here.

i'm giving the half of 1 star for the trailer. however long that ran is more than enough for me see of this film.

follow up thoughts: here