My Week With Marilyn
- Jayde Walker
- Feb 22, 2012
- 2 min read
Michelle Williams steps into the shoes of screen goddess Marilyn Monroe in the film adaptation of writer/filmmaker Colin Clark's memoir detailing a week-long flirtation with the blonde bombshell.
What’s the deal?
23-year-old Colin Clark (Eddie Redmayne) nabs his first role in showbiz as Third Assistant Director on Olivier film The Prince and The Showgirl. It's a job that sounds good on paper but very soon turns into general shitkicker, then full-time Monroe (Williams) wrangler.
It’s good!
The film is pretty light-hearted, with comic relief from a boorish Kenneth Branagh as an overwhelmed Olivier and Dame Judy as an understanding Dame Sybil, while Harry Potter alumni Zoe Wanamaker is great as tutor Paula Strasberg.
What’s wrong with you?
The problem with depicting Monroe – and this is a criticism across the board, not just at Williams - is that it is very hard to capture her unique blend of charisma. I don’t think that Williams, while a fantastic actress, is that charismatic in general so she left me underwhelmed. As a result, I saw none of Monroe's magnetic quality in the film, which weakened the emotional conflict in the narrative. Potterstar Emma Watson is actually pretty forgettable as Clark’s prospective love interest Lucy, but I guess that’s the point. I wasn’t a huge fan of Dominic Cooper in Mamma Mia; here he has a small turn as Marilyn Monroe Productions investor Milton Greene, stepping in briefly to chew scenery then leave again.
Neo-Maxi Zoom Dweeb-ery
Marilyn Monroe was a fascinating individual, and her weaknesses – her narcissism, her constant victim-mentality, her anxiety and depression, her rumoured Borderline Paranoid Schizophrenia, her excessive neediness – made a lethal combination when combined with her beauty and charisma. She was a conflicting archetype of a wide-eyed emotionally vulnerable woman who needed a man to lean on, but that the same time ensnared those same men with her overt sexuality. Maybe Marilyn needed that juxtaposition, because if she was more emotionally stronger she would’ve scared the shit out of men. Personally her insecurities do not make her appealing, but rather annoying, to me.
Truth?
No matter how prettily you wrap it up with soft romantic lighting, it’s basically a story about a young starry-eyed bloke keen for a shag with a saucy married starlet. It doesn’t make the picture all that redeeming when you can’t visually translate or capture the inherent appeal of the 'trophy'.
Bender Fist Pumps
3/5
