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'My Week with Marilyn' review

Michelle Williams mesmerizes as the titillating, tortured screen siren

By Alexis L. Loinaz

Metromix
November 23, 2011

Critic's Rating:

Michelle Williams (Credit: Laurence Cendrowicz/Weinstein Co.)

My Week With Marilyn

Running time:: 101 minutes

Rated:: R

Cast:

Michelle Williams -

Marilyn Monroe

Eddie Redmayne -

Colin Clark

Kenneth Branagh -

Laurence Olivier

Dominic Cooper -

Milton Greene

Julia Ormond -

Vivien Leigh

See full cast

Director:: Simon Curtis

Genre:: Drama

Official Movie Web Site:: http://myweekwithmarilynmovie.com/

Overall User Rating:: (0 ratings)

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In 1956, Marilyn Monroe (Michelle Williams) flew to England to shoot "The Prince and the Showgirl," a chintzy comedy that paired her with an unlikely costar: the legendary Laurence Olivier (Kenneth Branagh), who also directed it. For her, the film was a stab at cred. For him, it was a desperate attempt to remain relevant. On the set, Marilyn meets Colin Clark (Eddie Redmayne), a young production assistant, and they strike up a deep, flirtatious but fleeting connection. Rankled by self-doubt, needled by a frustrated Olivier and overwhelmed by her recent marriage to Arthur Miller (Dougray Scott), Monroe finds unlikely comfort in Clark, who becomes her solace from an oppressive star machinery and her own churning darkness.

The buzz: The film is based on two memoirs written by Clark, a blue-blooded Brit with cushy family connections (his godfather was the librarian at Windsor Castle). The books remain one of the more intimate portraits of the screen siren—a key hook when you're trying to bring fresh insight to an icon who's been portrayed, and parodied, ad nauseam. Care to count? Marilyn's been channeled by, among others, Mira Sorvino, Ashley Judd, Poppy Montgomery and—but of course!—Madonna.

The verdict: It's no small feat to inhabit the physical and emotional contours of Marilyn, but Williams pulls it off with mesmerizing verve. Lithe and nubile, she hones in on the pulsing sexuality that both fueled and tormented the screen legend. Kittenish one moment and splintered the next, Williams' portrayal never slips into gross impersonation. There's a fleshy realism here that keeps you believing the woman on screen is more than just a pastiche of de rigueur blond wigs, come-hither coos and coquettish pouts. On the whole, the film is a flighty sonnet of gossamer beauty. It's dreamy and gauzy, but occasionally feels shallow and lightweight, stemming mainly from director Simon Curtis' decision to limit the film's scope. He has stressed that this isn't a biopic, but rather a tightly framed and focused snapshot of one pivotal moment in the screen legend's life. The dual effect is both liberating and limiting. So: no hokey flashbacks or insta-Freudian analyses of what makes Marilyn go tick, tick, boom! Instead, there's a lot of surface allure that hints at deeper, darker waters, but never fully takes the plunge. As Olivier, Branagh is a wonderful mix of haughty ego and coddling charm, simultaneously harsh and smitten with his elusive leading lady. Still, this is clearly Williams' movie and she owns it, in the same way Marilyn claimed a singular sensuality that proved to be her lasting legacy, and her ultimate undoing.

Did you know? In a big display of verisimilitude, the production shot in many of the original locations featured in the movie, including the house where Marilyn lived during filming, the soundstages of "The Prince and the Showgirl," the Eton campus, and Windsor Castle.