Another fine independent film that will garner Oscar nominations.
My Week With Marilyn (Michelle Williams, Kenneth Branagh, Eddie Redmayne) – Colin Clark desperately wanted to get into the film business when he graduated from prep school and university in England so he camps at Laurence Olivier’s production company in the hope of getting a job. Determined, earnest and starry-eyed, Clark (Eddie Redmayne of The Good Shepherd and Black Death) gets his chance by doing odd jobs and is made third assistant director to Olivier (brilliant actor/director Kenneth Branagh) for one of the great actor’s few light comedies, The Prince and the Showgirl (not the original name). Olivier had directed only three movies before this, and they were all Shakespeare works (Henry V, Hamlet and Richard III). He wanted to work with Marilyn Monroe, perhaps because he had a crush on her (he was married at the time to Vivien Leigh, who is played by Julia Ormand in a small, but effective, performance) or just because he wanted to prove he could make a commercially popular film. (It didn’t work incidentally; the movie tanked.)
While the film is truly the story of Clark’s one-week encounter with the legend that was and is Marilyn Monroe (Michelle Williams), the film is really a character study of Monroe herself. Williams is uncanny as Monroe. She plays Marilyn sympathetically as troubled, insecure, drugged out, and playful. Never secure that she was a great actress, Monroe both loved and hated her image as sex kitten, turning it on when she needed to but unsure of herself. Williams manages to capture all of these aspects of Monroe while tackling the toughest role of her life. For those of us who first saw Williams in the spoof, Dick, about two teenagers (with Kirsten Dunst) who serve as dog-walkers to President Dick Nixon’s dog), it is hard to believe that this is the same actress. She is made to look like Monroe, and the resemblance is more than passable given the fact that most of the free world knows the legend that is Marilyn.
Indeed, this is more a biopic than a drama or love story. Told from the point of view of Clark, the story is rich. It would be unbelievable if it weren’t a true story roughly based on Clark’s books, My Week with Marilyn and The Prince, the Showgirl and Me. Branagh plays Olivier as a bit of a snob, an artiste, and a perfectionist. Clark is in awe of the great actor, who everyone calls Larry. But Olivier is an afterthought in the film, even as he is both smitten and terribly frustrated by his co-star and leading lady. Redmayne’s portrayal of Clark is sweet and innocent even if his motives were less than chivalrous. Well acted and character-driven, My Week With Marilyn suffers from a slow pace and a touch of self-importance. We learn only what Clark wants to tell us about Monroe but not what is at the root of her insecurity. So enjoy the portrayals, a couple of which (Williams’ and Branagh’s) have already been rewarded with Golden Globe nominations. And let’s see if the movie gets one of the 10 Best Picture Oscar nominations to go along with its Golden Globe nomination for Best Picture – Comedy or Musical, neither of which it is.