My Week with Marilyn

I am a big fan of Marilyn Monroe.  There I said it.  She was beautiful, charming, witty, did I mention stunning?  I have read a lot of biographies and exposes on her life, fascinated by why a talented young woman died so young and so alone.

My Week with Marilyn is a film about the short time she was in the UK filming The Prince and The Showgirl and falling in love/lust with a young runner on the set called Colin Clark.  Based on the true memoirs/story by Clark, it documents the beginnings of her marriage to Arthur Miller, her conflicts with acting and being a star, as well as the serious depression she was then suffering.

Colin offered her a small way out, a breath of fresh air, breathing space in her otherwise conflicted and stressful world.  Monroe, played skilfully by Michelle Williams, captivates the audience, colleagues and all those around her with a small look, the slight lilt in her voice and even the way she walks.  We get an insight to Norma Jean before Marilyn is switched on and running on all cylinders.  Sadly, Marilyn was surrounded by enablers, people that feared their own careers would be over if she suddenly realised how talent she actually was.  They kept her drugged up, constantly falling in and out of depression, repeatedly suffering miscarriages.  Marilyn was a mess, only kept together by small delights in Colin and countless men before and after him.

William’s portrayal of Monroe is so good, I forget what the real Marilyn looks like half way through the film.  Her open face, constantly surprised, the voice, the walk, even the way she looks at you is perfect.  Eddie Redmayne (fantastic in Savage Grace and Pillars of the Earth), now coming up the ranks as Britain’s hottest new thing, uses his innocent face to really play the young infatuated love interest really well.

Kenneth Branagh was also fantastic in the film playing the ever crazy and easily frustrated Laurence Olivier directing and acting alongside the ever trying Monroe.  Some of the lines he comes out with are priceless. 

Overall this film is wonderful, giving a real insight into Marilyn’s complicated world.  It left me with a bitter-sweet taste in my mouth.  Someone so talented is crushed within an inch of her life, it’s a miracle she made it that far.  The saddest part is that Hollywood hasn’t learned from its mistakes, Monroe was not the first to crash and burn and certainly won’t be the last.