My Week with Marilyn (B+ or 3/4 stars)
By using the 'film within a film' narrative framework, 'My Week with Marilyn' (directed by Simon Curtis) explores & encapsulates the enigma that was Marilyn Monroe; as well as showing us an inside scoop on the trials & tribulations of getting a movie completed. The screenplay is based on memoirs written by a man named Colin Clark, who was the 3rd assistant director on a British production of The Prince & the Showgirl - a movie that Marilyn & Sir Laurence Olivier was filming in the summer of 1956. Colin claims that he had a chaste affair with Monroe during that one magical week. And the film chronicles said week.
At the time, Olivier (played with great pomposity by Kenneth Branagh) is among the hierarchy of British cinema & considered one of the best thespians in the world. Monroe (Michelle Williams) was arguably the most famous film star, but desperate to be taken seriously as an actress & shed her sex image. So, Pinewood Studios banked on The Prince & the Showgirl being a wonderful enterprise for both actors. Howwwever, right off the bat, Monroe's inconsistency in front of the camera & her oddities away from it drives the tireless Olivier to exasperation. Though newly married to playwright Arthur Miller, Marilyn seems discontent, & Olivier's biting criticisms of her makes her a jittery mess. She is constantly late to the set and/or absent altogether; lost in a haze of 'sickness', pills & alcohol.
Though her husband must head back to America, Marilyn does have 3 allies in 'ole England: actress Dame Sybil Thorndike (a majestic Judi Dench), acting coach Paula Strasberg (Zoe Wanamaker) & 23 yr. old Colin Clark (Eddie Redmayne), the 3rd asst. director who is kind & non-judgmental. For 1 idyllic week after Arthur Miller had left, Clark becomes Marilyn's sole confidante. To her, he is a sweetheart & the only person who can right her storm. To him, she is his 1st love. But Colin was forewarned (by a scorned lover from Marilyn's past, played by Dominic Cooper) ... she will love you & leave you.
'My Week with Marilyn' lacks some ambition; but it's great to look at and offers a stellar character study of Monroe. The film starts off with a bang; showing Marilyn (Williams) in a nostalgic, beautifully-shot musical number ("Heatwave"). In this one scene, you see her beauty, her talent, & most importantly, her magnetism (to men & women, alike). And by the time Williams sings-out the film's book-ending musical number ("That Old Black Magic"), the actress' beguiling portrait of Monroe felt real. Now, there are some draggy sections in the mid-to-3rd quarter of the film. But on the whole, it's a competent, snazzy truffle; punctuated by pungent, foreboding moments where we see Marilyn's insecurities, her eccentricities, & her flickering light bulb persona that would lead to her ruin 6 yrs. later.
I've heard criticism that Michelle Williams doesn't look enough like the 50's icon. But then, who really looks like Marilyn Monroe? The hair, the beauty mark, the pout, the pronounced bosom, the outfits, the walk, the breathy voice ... Williams gets it. But while she nails Monroe's movie star allure, she also disappears into the role & illuminates Marilyn's inner demons. There's the insecure, vulnerable side to her personality. There's the smart, confident sex kitten. And there's the sad, confused version trapped btwn. the other facades. One of the more telling moments of Marilyn's personality is when she turns to Colin (as rabid fans approach) and says: "Shall I be her?" - as if to say, they only know that Marilyn. Fame was something she couldn't live without. But it was also a curse.
At the time, Olivier (played with great pomposity by Kenneth Branagh) is among the hierarchy of British cinema & considered one of the best thespians in the world. Monroe (Michelle Williams) was arguably the most famous film star, but desperate to be taken seriously as an actress & shed her sex image. So, Pinewood Studios banked on The Prince & the Showgirl being a wonderful enterprise for both actors. Howwwever, right off the bat, Monroe's inconsistency in front of the camera & her oddities away from it drives the tireless Olivier to exasperation. Though newly married to playwright Arthur Miller, Marilyn seems discontent, & Olivier's biting criticisms of her makes her a jittery mess. She is constantly late to the set and/or absent altogether; lost in a haze of 'sickness', pills & alcohol.
Though her husband must head back to America, Marilyn does have 3 allies in 'ole England: actress Dame Sybil Thorndike (a majestic Judi Dench), acting coach Paula Strasberg (Zoe Wanamaker) & 23 yr. old Colin Clark (Eddie Redmayne), the 3rd asst. director who is kind & non-judgmental. For 1 idyllic week after Arthur Miller had left, Clark becomes Marilyn's sole confidante. To her, he is a sweetheart & the only person who can right her storm. To him, she is his 1st love. But Colin was forewarned (by a scorned lover from Marilyn's past, played by Dominic Cooper) ... she will love you & leave you.
'My Week with Marilyn' lacks some ambition; but it's great to look at and offers a stellar character study of Monroe. The film starts off with a bang; showing Marilyn (Williams) in a nostalgic, beautifully-shot musical number ("Heatwave"). In this one scene, you see her beauty, her talent, & most importantly, her magnetism (to men & women, alike). And by the time Williams sings-out the film's book-ending musical number ("That Old Black Magic"), the actress' beguiling portrait of Monroe felt real. Now, there are some draggy sections in the mid-to-3rd quarter of the film. But on the whole, it's a competent, snazzy truffle; punctuated by pungent, foreboding moments where we see Marilyn's insecurities, her eccentricities, & her flickering light bulb persona that would lead to her ruin 6 yrs. later.
I've heard criticism that Michelle Williams doesn't look enough like the 50's icon. But then, who really looks like Marilyn Monroe? The hair, the beauty mark, the pout, the pronounced bosom, the outfits, the walk, the breathy voice ... Williams gets it. But while she nails Monroe's movie star allure, she also disappears into the role & illuminates Marilyn's inner demons. There's the insecure, vulnerable side to her personality. There's the smart, confident sex kitten. And there's the sad, confused version trapped btwn. the other facades. One of the more telling moments of Marilyn's personality is when she turns to Colin (as rabid fans approach) and says: "Shall I be her?" - as if to say, they only know that Marilyn. Fame was something she couldn't live without. But it was also a curse.