My Week with Marilyn

But this is not total movie magic. I was touched by this movie, there were moments I could lose myself in its conventions and narrative. There was always something missing. The movie - My Week with Marilyn attempts to operate at several levels. The author of the original story, Colin Clark asks us to believe this as his personal story. The director asks us suspend disbelief in favor of his vision and the various actors ask us to believe their portrayals of historic peoples. Each request is served well enough but the result is less than the parts.Colin Clark tells us he is a younger and less accomplished son of Lord Kenneth Clark. Desperate to make his own way he signs on as 3rd assistant (think modern studio intern) to a movie company owned by and about to star Sir Laurence Olivier (Kenneth Branagh). The movie will costar American star and sex symbol Marilyn Monroe (Michelle Williams). Ms. Monroe arrives newly married to play wright Author Miller, but her newly wed state does not keep Sir Laurence and every male for miles around from lusting after her.Ms Monroe is not able to absorb the weight of her sexual popularity, is not confident in her acting skills and is not well served by her entourage. She is surrounded by people who will stroke her ego and drug her into compliance and other wise fail to give her the simple faith that might better serve her emotional needs.Enter the new hired 3rd assistant. His loyalties are assumed to be with his titled employer, but between his own desires for Marilyn, native innocence and a sense of kindred spirit, becomes the person that the nearly over whelmed actress can trust. The romance is that she can love him, trust him even with her body and to strain the analogy be "naked" with him without him using her. By making no demands on Marilyn, Colin becomes her strength.The Marilyn story we believe is that she was a timid soul thrust into stardom before she learned to trust her skills. She would fear that she would never be taken seriously. Her fears and her experience with a variety of people, who used her, reinforced those fears. A Hollywood system that tended to abuse drugs as the cure all would, according to this version ultimately destroy her. This is the MM who inhabits this movie, but we also get to see the woman who could be "Her" at will and who mostly needed time to not have to be "Her"In one sentence Michelle Williams is not MM. She never captures her breathy vocal style and is not that perfect as a body double. This is not a fatal flaw. There are moments, poses and smiles when you can believe that the Michelle is channeling Marilyn. There are others when she is only<?> delivering a nuanced and top rate performance.There is a tradition in acting that there are no small parts only small actors. Somehow the British take this as a matter of honor. Dame Judy Dench as Dame Sybil Thorndike commands her every scene and it feels rude to mention she is here as minor supporting actress. Downton Abby's head butler, Jim Carter, has perhaps two scenes, and plays them as if the movie was about a pub owner named Barry. By the time we get to the leading supporting actors: Emma Watson proves she is an actress and will take supporting roles and deliver. Her fellow Harry Potter performer, Zoë Wanamaker gives us an intense if somewhat too self-important Paula Strasberg. The great Kenneth Branagh gives us a living Sir Laurence Olivier. It is a role that requires his to be more of a caricature than a true leading man, and Branagh accepts that it is not about him.The single moment that best symbolizes the historic tension between an English tradition of film acting trying to shed its Royal Shakespearean acting tradition in favor of an emerging American movie acting style is the arrival of a luminous , white dressed MM facing off against the assemble British cast all attired in various high Victorian uniforms and formal bejeweled dresses. It is unclear who is more afraid of whom. As powerful as this moment is, the British had been making successful movies for decades; many staring the historic actors being portrayed in this cast. I was never convinced that the movie: The Princess and the Showgirl represented that kind of change in the history of movie making.Likewise I could never accept Colin as that innocent. One suspects that Colin Clark, 23 raised to wealth and more subtle than he could admit was making deliberate choices based on an independent view of how to best server his masters and Marilyn. Ultimately this 1 week idyll was too idyllic for me to fully accept.My Week with Marilyn has more than enough that is right for me to recommend it. This is a good movie with a cast that achieves some A list performances in wonderfully re-imagined period sets, but...

Although I have enjoyed my share of Marilyn Monroe movies, I've never been obsessed with her or made it my business to read biographical info on her. I certainly know she died young, was married to DiMaggio & Miller, etc. Thus, I cannot speak even remotely to the truthfulness of MY WEEK WITH MARILYN. I can say, however, that it was an interesting film that engaged my interest throughout, and that it features an eye-opening performance from Michelle Williams.MY WEEK WITH MARILYN covers the time period when Marilyn came over to England to star in Laurence Olivier's PRINCE AND THE SHOWGIRL. Olivier (Kenneth Branagh) was directing and co-starring, and felt that Monroe would guarantee a big hit. For me, as someone who worked for YEARS in theater, I was in many ways most interested in seeing the clash of acting styles between Monroe & Olivier. Monroe was trying to be a method actor (and she travelled with her own acting coach)...which sometimes seems like a crutch she is using when she's feeling insecure. Olivier was more old-school, where acting was more about craft and instinct and timing and delivery. When the two great movie stars come together, sparks fly. But they aren't the sparks that create movie magic...they create friction and frustration. I enjoyed watching all the British actors struggling to deal with Monroe's "method" of acting. (Best of the bunch was watching Judi Dench, doing all she could to help Marilyn...she gives a delightful performance in a tiny role.)The movie is told from the point of view of Third Assistant Director Colin Clark (on whose memoir the film is based). Clark is a young man, new to the film business, who essentially is the gopher for Olivier and everyone else involved in the film. He forges an unlikely friendship with Monroe, who briefly comes to trust him more than anyone else around. This alliance lasts about a week (hence the title), where Colin is practically living with Monroe, even sleeping in her bed to offer comfort. There are broad hints that some of Monroe's erratic behavior is due to drugs, but for the most part, the film portrays her as very insecure and lonely and misunderstood. While the film doesn't shy away from the ugly aspects of her life, it is safe to say they are left unexplored.The film is a fairly loving tribute to Monroe. While she can be difficult, she is always shown fairly sympathetically. Actually, almost everyone in the film is sympathetic. Olivier occasionally blusters and acts out...but honestly, we can understand his frustration. Overall, he comes off well. The movie FEELS evenhanded and humane...it's a nice mood.Best of all is Michelle Williams. She's done good work before, but much of it has felt SIMILAR. She seems to play contemporary women grappling with some level of demons. (BLUE VALENTINE, BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN). Her characters may have inner strength (MEEK'S CUTOFF, WENDY AND LUCY), but they aren't usually dynamic, charismatic, loud women. In MY WEEK WITH MARILYN, we see a side of her that has not been much on display, and my estimation of her jumped up accordingly. Her Marilyn is touching and grappling with demons, but she is also sexy and wildly charismatic. When Williams portrays the "public" Marilyn, handling rabid fans or a crazy press conference...she acts so "non-Michelle Williams-like" that I was quite impressed. Her many accolades were much deserved. Branagh also does a great Olivier. It's perhaps a bit more of an impression that a fully-realized performance...but he's charming and convincing and clearly having a ball with the role. Others don't fare quite as well. Emma Watson is bland (thanks to the script) as Colin's girlfriend; Dougray Scott doesn't get to do much as Arthur Miller and Julia Ormond is miscast as Olivier's wife, Vivien Leigh.This is not a deeply revelatory film, but it is highly entertaining and the time flies by. The art & costume direction is flawless, including the reconstructions of many scenes from Monroe films. It's a feel-good film about a real life person who was nearly on the brink of self-destruction. That's contradictory, I know...but that's how the film felt. It is certainly worth a look.

Es muy interesante esta recreación de una parte de la vida de Marilyn, con magníficas interpretaciones de actores actuales entre ellos la maravillosa Judi Dench, que puedes disfrutar proyectándola en versión original subtitulada con magnífica imágen y sonido en blu-ray.Pero al final...... te falta algo, y yo te aconsejo la sesión en programa doble que había en los cines de los años 60, y ves el motivo de esta historia, The Prince and the Showgirl (El Prncipe y la Corista), no existe en blu-ray, pero el DVD tiene la versión original y subtìtulos.No es la perfección técnica pero no importa porque es una joya, y brilla la mayor Estrella que ha dado el cine, Marilyn Monroe, inimitable.

Très bon film avec la talentueuse Emma Watson.

Absolutely brilliant, right from the opening scene to the rather emotional ending.Michelle Williams's portrayal of marilyn monroe is worthy of an oscar, let alone a golden globe.A star studded cast of kenneth branagh, judi dench,emma watson & dougray scott really make this film shine throughout the whole 1 hour & 39 mins.Branagh is brilliant as olivier, his patience is sorely tested as an actor & director by Marilyn's constant lateness & her forgetfulness of her lines.Eddie redmayne's portrayal of Colin Clark is heart warming, having fallen head over heals in love with marilyn, he begs her to give it all up & to stay with him in the uk, given her recent row with Arthur miller (dougray scott) which sees him fly back to the states, his excuse, to be with his children. Miller abandons marilyn to the boyish charms of Colin Clark & so begins his week with 1 of hollywoods hottest properties & the rest is history. A must see for any marilyn fan.

I really good classic british film, an excellent portrayal of Marilyn and of that era. I only watched it a few weeks ago and i could easily sit and watch it again.

Bought this as I wanted to know a little about the real Marilyn. An interesting film which did give you a glimpse of the person behind the Legend. Well worth watching