By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.9
Director: Simon Curtis
Starring: Dominic Cooper | Eddie Redmayne | Julia Ormond | Kenneth Brannagh | Michelle Williams
Country: united_kingdom, united_states
Year: 2011
Running time: 99
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1655420/
Bruce says: “Brilliant, astonishing, miraculous, breathtaking….there are not enough words to describe Michelle William’s uncanny Marilyn Monroe, a role that is almost inconceivable for any actress to attempt, much less conquer. Williams has the look, the voice, the subtle wit, the underlying intelligence behind her constant flirtations, the gestures, the body language, and the requisite vulnerability….all done to perfection.
“Based on a memoir by Colin Clark, the film is a reverie of how Clark met and became involved with Marilyn Monroe in 1956 while he was Third Assistant Director (commonly called gopher) for THE PRINCE AND THE SHOWGIRL, Sir Laurence Olivier’s (Kenneth Branagh) unfortunate brush with pop culture. Olivier and his wife Vivien Leigh had performed in the Terence Rattigan play of the same name on the London stage. ‘I’m forty three and no one will love me for much longer,’ Vivian confesses acknowledging why Marilyn Monroe has usurped her role. Papa – Sir Kenneth Clark – gets the job for Colin (Eddie Redmayne); however, Olivier is unimpressed by his addition to his filmmaking team.
“As the filming begins, the world’s leading stage actor and the world’s leading film actress have no rapport, no chemistry and no kind words for one another. Marilyn is insecure and painstaking; Olivier, pompous and impatient. Olivier disdains method acting; he believes one should tackle a role in the opposite direction – from the outside in. When scenes don’t go well Olivier scolds Marilyn like one would a small child. Marilyn’s constant companion is Paula Strasberg (Zoë Wanamaker) who provides moral support and has the know-how to get Marilyn in the mood for the camera. Initially Marilyn’s new husband Arthur Miller joins her on the Pinewood Studios set. When Miller soon discovers that Marilyn’s neuroses and the chaos of filmmaking interfere with his writing, he abruptly heads back to New York. Distraught, Marilyn gravitates to someone who is not threatening to her. Colin is in the right place at the right time.
“Redmayne plays Colin as a wide-eyed young man coming-of-age; yet the film makes clear that his upper class background, history of boarding school from age eight on, and a deep-rooted sense of entitlement have prepared him for dealing with bolts out of the blue in a world-weary fashion. Nonetheless, he falls in love with Marilyn as he spends time diverting her attentions away from the filming disaster. That the feeling is not mutual is not surprising; the most that Marilyn can conclude is that she has never before kissed a younger man. ‘Most of the men in Hollywood are so much older,’ she sighs with resignation.
“With the exceptions of Judi Dench as Dame Sybil Thorndike and the aforementioned Zoë Wanamaker, the supporting cast is weak. Dominic Cooper is miscast as American Milton Greene as is Julia Ormond as Vivien Leigh. Branagh is convincing when he reveals Olivier’s conflicting ego and sense of inadequacy but less so when in his attempts to encapsulate Olivier’s imposing stature which kept others in a perpetual state of awe.
“In spite of the film’s shortcomings, I enjoyed it immensely. Ninety per cent of the credit goes to Michelle Williams without whom this film could not have been made. 4 1/2 cats”
Michael says: “Interesting review, Bruce. We saw the film earlier this week, and while I totally agree with your assessment of Ms. Williams’ performance, which was exceptional, she can only drag the film up to the level of 2.5 cats for me. Without Michelle Williams, or, as hard as it would be to conceive, someone as good, the film would have been a disaster. While I enjoyed the scenes involving the shooting of the film, the scenes revolving around Colin Clark were sometimes excruciating for me to watch. The music and gauzy focus tried to convey a sense of dreamy romance, even though we all knew Marilyn was just using this as a diversion, but there was something unseemly and borderline stalkerish in the way Clark forced himself into the moment.
“I also have to disagree about the supporting cast. I found them to be pretty enjoyable, especially Dominic Cooper, who struck me as refreshing and petulant, with his I’ve been there but I’m still a little jealous attitude. I also enjoyed seeing Dougray Scott as Arthur Miller, and I found Ormond’s take on Leigh to be fun. True, Harry Potter’s Emma Watson had a thankless role, but she acquitted herself just fine.
“Ultimately, I guess it says something that despite our varying takes on this film, there can be no argument about Michelle William’s outstanding performance. 2.5 cats”
Thom says: “I had very high expectations for this film and upon finally viewing it they were admirably kept, with some reservations. This is a dramatization of when the goddess Marilyn Monroe came over to England to make the movie THE PRINCE AND THE SHOWGIRL, co-starring with and directed by Laurence Olivier. Olivier was revered in many circles as the best actor of his generation, especially in his always praised Shakespearean roles that live to this day as some of the best interpretations ever of the Bard. While stories had surfaced about the legendary “Blonde Bombshell” being difficult to work with none of the people involved with the film were prepared for just what trouble she was going to cause. She arrives with recent hubby Arthur Miller (already starting to realize he’d made a mistake by marrying her) and famed acting coach Paula Strasberg, who only sees Marilyn’s side of things. When Marilyn is consistently late to the set (if she appears at all), flubs her lines, questions the director’s motivations on script elucidations, and is easily distracted a new adjunct is sent in, who is also the film’s narrator, to give a calming influence to her unprofessional demeanor. Predictably, he falls in love with her, but still is able to get her to complete her role. Why the film works so well, besides the fascinating script and skilled direction, is nearly all Michelle Williams. While she’s not nearly as glamorous as Monroe, nor does she have the ideal body type, she nonetheless infuses her role with an indelible, special quality that few actresses would be able to equal. She truly is amazing as she is able to make the audience understand Monroe’s fragility and mental weakness and comes close to even pity. Any special qualities that made an icon out of Monroe are brilliantly shown by William’s impeccable performance. Redmayne is strong as the factotum character Colin Clark and is really turning into quite the chameleon. Judi Dench gives another bravura turn as perplexed, but wise, character actress Sybil Thorndike. I generally have a high opinion of Branagh but he overplays his hand here as Olivier, being too broad and bloated. And Julia Ormond totally misses the mark as Vivien Leigh, every bit as difficult as MM ever was, although that doesn’t come out at all. Otherwise the film is a judicious and high-entertainment spectacle that fascinates and enthralls. This is a delicious film. 4 1/2 cats”
Jason says: “Though MY WEEK WITH MARILYN chronicles one star on one specific movie set, I suspect that a number of people in the movie business who never had any interaction at all with Marilyn Monroe or Sir Laurence Olivier watched it and nodded their heads in understanding. The former Norma Jean Baker is, as an individual perhaps as inscrutable as ever when it’s done, but we do get a look at the subspecies she represents so perfectly, the movie star.
“Colin Clark (Eddie Redmayne), the younger scion of a country squire, loves the movies, and uses connections and sheer stubbornness to get an (unpaid) position on the staff of Laurence Olivier’s production company. Sir Laurence (Kenneth Branagh) has cast Marilyn Monroe (Michelle Williams) as his female lead in his new movie, the lightest of light comedies about a European prince who falls for an American dancer, but it turns out to be far from smooth sailing: Monroe is thoroughly intimidated by Olivier and England in general, eventually only trusting the rather smitten Colin.
“We see this mainly from Colin’s point of view – screenwriter Adrian Hodges adapts the real-life Colin Clark’s two memoirs – and it’s perhaps worth asking if maybe his story of his involvement grew in the telling. Who wouldn’t, in the decades that followed, exaggerate how close he got to the sexiest star of the era? There are occasional points where the words of a more experienced, insightful man come out of the mouth of the 23-year-old Colin’s mouth, which can be a bit odd, considering that he will soon revert to his previous, naive state. This isn’t a bad thing by any means – as a narrator, he seems more reliable than not, and he isn’t nearly superfluous as the typical ‘relatively-ordinary guy meant to be the audience’s proxy’ character.
“Still, there are times when one wishes Colin would step aside and let the movie focus on the things that aren’t familiar, at least for much of the audience. Perhaps the most interesting facet of MY WEEK WITH MARILYN is the way it examines the very concept of a movie star: As much as Hodges, director Simon Curtis, and star Michelle Williams do depict Monroe as a flawed human being, there’s also something almost alien about her. Put aside Colin’s fairly unremarkable coming of age story, and the entire film is about what a disruptive thing a Marilyn Monroe is: She draws reactions that are outside easy explanation – even the people used to dealing with beauties and celebrities are in awe of her – but nobody knows how to deal with that sort of outlier. You can’t interact with a goddess the way you would with an ordinary person, even one who thinks of herself as human.
“Getting that across is a pretty neat trick on Williams’s part. An actor often connects with the audience by finding ways to communicate what the character is thinking, but Williams often has to show us actions that come without thinking, simultaneously expressive and unknowable. It’s a fine impersonation, sure, but it’s just as much tortured savant as sex kitten.
“Kenneth Branagh does something complementary, presenting Sir Laurence Olivier, generally considered an outlier in his own right, as thoroughly human. Not necessarily rational or genuine – Sir Laurence can be just as much of a diva as Monroe, in his way – but despite the man being a genius, everything he does comes from a place us ordinary people can see. Branagh has, the joke goes, been trying to be Olivier his entire career, and he nails a lot of things that while they seem weird at the time (like his accent during the early parts of the movie) but make sense by the end (of course Olivier would be trying to find the right accent for this character).
“Eddie Redmayne does his best to hold his own in this cast – he’s more affable than bland most of the time, and has good chemistry with both Michelle Williams and Emma Watson as the costumer with whom he strikes up a relationship. The cast is full of terrific people like Watson in smaller roles – Judi Dench as veteran actress Sybil Thorndike, Dougray Scott as Monroe’s husband Arthur Miller, Julia Ormond as Vivien Leigh, Michael Kitchen as the head of Olivier’s production company, and Derek Jacobi as Colin’s godfather.
“Cinemaphiles will likely watch this movie in part to learn about Monroe, Olivier, and the other big names, but cinema history is not so much the point. As a look at the nature of celebrity, though, MY WEEK WITH MARILYN is both interesting and entertaining. 4 cats
“Seen 31 December 2011 in Landmark Kendall Square #9 (first-run)”