I have never read Joyce Carol Oats because I am not fond of her subjects. But I had just seen the good bio-pic "Blonde" based on her book. So while looking for my next film to watch I came across this film and thought if she could write a good biography of Marilyn Monroe maybe this might be OK. It wasn't.
I have seen many bio-pics, many quite good. As a writer myself, non-fiction, many have been about writers, artists or musicians. Creative people. But my first rule of a good bio-pic is that the subject should not be actually in the film. Preferably dead. There is nothing like interviews of the subject to make a bio-pic boring. There should be a story, perhaps accurate, maybe not so accurate as was "Blonde". We want to get a feel for the person. Maybe some of her writing, or her books, films, art, music etc. Especially popular music, here is where extended performances are much better than 15 second clips. There was some of this here, the most effective were written rather than spoken. But mostly for those of us who maybe did not know much about her. There can be some film clips of events pertaining to her life, but again don't overdo it.
But most of all, professional actors, often several, should play parts of the subject's life. The writer of the bio-pic can more efficiently portray an idea than a random clip of the subject herself. Fiction is usually better than real life.
Frankly I was not very engaged by this film and didn't come away with an appreciation of her as a person or writer. I may run out and read her book "Blonde" to see how it compared to the film but I am quite sure I will not read many other of her books. They should have Oat's book which knows how to do it right before attempting this film.