Starring: Michelle Williams, Kenneth Brannagh and Eddie Redmayne
Directed By: Simon Curtis
Written By: Adrian Hodges
Based on the Book By: Colin Clark
Produced By: David Parfitt
Distributor: The Weinstein Company
Rating: R
Running Time: 99 minutes
Website: myweekwithmarilynmovie.com
Budget: $8 million (estimated)
Genre: Drama
Release Date: November 23, 2011 (limited)
Michelle Williams has come a very long way since her days on the seminal ‘90s soap “Dawson’s Creek,” shedding her disposable teen fame in favor of a carefully cultivated indie film credibility. Gravitating toward highly personal, low-budget projects like I’m Not There, Wendy and Lucy and Blue Valentine, Williams has spent nearly a decade fine-tuning her craft in relative seclusion, always one breakout role away from becoming a true Hollywood star.
Ironic, then, that she so easily inhabits the role of Marilyn Monroe, arguably the biggest movie star of the 1950s. Monroe’s tragic struggle with her own fame, and the downward spiral it triggered, is by now as much a part of her iconic appeal as her crack comic timing or hourglass figure. Though the flashbulbs popped and crowds swarmed whenever she was around, she longed to be taken seriously as a legitimate actress.
This is the Monroe we meet in My Week with Marilyn. Set in 1956, at the peak of the actress’s fame, she arrives in England with new husband Arthur Miller (a nearly-unrecognizable Dougray Scott) in tow to begin filming The Prince and the Showgirl with legendary actor and director Sir Laurence Olivier (a much-more-recognizable Kenneth Brannagh). Olivier views the lighthearted farce as his ticket to movie stardom; Monroe sees it as an opportunity to work on her craft with the Shakespearean legend.
As the conflict between the two icons rises, Monroe’s behavior becomes increasingly mercurial. The codependent reassurance from her acting coach (Zoë Wanamaker, “Agatha Christie’s Poirot”) and constant medication from her manager (Dominic Cooper, Captain America: The First Avenger) only make matters worse. By the time Miller returns to New York, Marilyn is in a shambles. If only a gawky British ginger could rescue the starlet her from her grim circumstances with a charming, wide-eyed innocence and ability to really care!
Because sadly, this isn’t Marilyn Monroe’s story. Based on a set of memoirs by British filmmaker Colin Clark, My Week with Marilyn is actually Clark’s highly-questionable recollection of how his job as a gopher on a movie set somehow led to a brief affair with the most famous actress in the world. Dull and impassive, Clark is a poor choice of protagonist, especially as played with slack-jawed numbness by Eddie Redmayne (The Other Boleyn Girl), who is easily the weakest link in an otherwise stellar supporting cast.
Brannagh, in particular, relishes his chance to portray Olivier, balancing the actor’s austerity with a penchant for inventive profanity. Julia Ormond captures the glamor of Old Hollywood in an extended cameo as fading star Vivien Leigh. Judi Densch is warm and charming as the ever-compassionate Dame Sybil, and Emma Watson infuses her meager role as a potential love interest with humor and dignity. There is a lot of talent involved in this project.
But Director Simon Curtis has a long history producing and directing for television, and it shows. Despite the star-studded ensemble, My Week with Marilyn never escapes the feeling of being anything more than an above-average made-for-TV movie. Williams’s indelible performance as the damaged screen goddess is award-worthy, but it can’t compensate for the general mediocrity of the filmmaking on display.
1.5 Stars (out of 5)
