It has been said that even Marilyn played Marilyn Monroe. After all, beyond that one picture, a rendition or two of "Happy Birthday" and a conspiracy theory, how much do you really know about the actress synonymous with sex appeal? Probably about as much as Colin Clark, before he became Monroe's go-to during filming in London.
The outcast of his over-achieving family, Colin Clark (Eddie Redmayne) has always used movies as a means to escape reality. He considers running away to the circus before, through perseverance alone, he wrangles a job as a third assistant director gofer of "the lightest of comedies," "The Prince and the Showgirl" (1957). With his candor and boyish good looks, Clark ingratiates himself with his co-worker and becomes a popular confidant. When Arthur Miller (Dougray Scott) returns to New York after a fall-out with his wife, '50s it-girl Marilyn Monroe (Michelle Williams), Clark has a brief semi-romance with Monroe that gives him a peek beneath the veneer of her public life.
As corny as its plot may sound, director Simon Curtis' "My Week with Marilyn" is surprisingly — and poignantly — well done. Marketed as a true story, the film draws from two books based on journal entries Clark wrote during the filming of "The Prince and the Showgirl." Those books were adapted to film by writer Adrian Hodges. The movie provides an unusual glimpse into Hollywood filmmaking at the height of Monroe's acting career and is, at heart, a classic tale of love's perils.
Williams puts in an admirable performance as Marilyn Monroe, managing to project just the right blend of an erotically appealing but emotionally damaged diva.
Williams is sensitive to Monroe's neuroticism and desperate loneliness without making her seem artificial. Her portrayal poignantly illustrates Monroe's push-and-pull relationship with the limelight as she simultaneously basks in and flees from her own persona.
In one particularly moving scene, for example, Monroe and Clark play hooky and go on a brief adventure around London before going for a sexually charged nude swim. Once back on the river's bank and found by her escort, Monroe turns to look back at the enraptured Clark. The music stops and the mood shifts abruptly as Monroe's mystical persona drops to reveal just how trapped she really feels by her lifestyle.
Emma Watson's appearance in the film as wardrobe assistant Lucy is almost comical — her character is significant only as The Girl Who Was Overshadowed by Marilyn Monroe. Quick-witted and bold, she dates Clark for a while before he moves on to greener pastures. Her role is a minor one, but it serves as a charming reality check in comparison to Clark's unexpected romance with Monroe.
Similarly, Judi Dench's character, Dame Sybil Thorndike, is hardly a protagonist in the film, but her empathy and warmth provide a tidy counterpoint to Laurence Olivier's (Kenneth Branagh) emotional brutality during filming. Dench always seems typecast into the same cinematic role, but she does it marvelously.
Despite its excellent acting, "My Week with Marilyn" is still the occasional victim of its own script. Clark is somewhat unbelievably the witness to a series of immaculately timed personal confessions that explain tensions and subplots. Furthermore, critics and friends of Marilyn have complained that this portrayal makes her seem more ditzy and lost than she really was.
Still, Redmayne is a delightful Clark, and his minimally developed personality helps highlight the absurdity that surrounds him. Charming, albeit somewhat bland, is ultimately what we want him to be. After all, the movie is less about Clark's diary entries than it is about the behind-the-scenes life of Monroe. Whether it's 1957 or 2011, any audience is much more interested in the life of a beautiful woman than that of a freckly third assistant.
While it treads dangerously close to being just another sepia-tinted trot through yesteryear — "Midnight in Paris" (2011), anyone? — "My Week with Marilyn" succeeds because it manages to seamlessly pair glamour with raw reality. Light, but not sugarcoated, the drama is touching in its apparent honesty. "My Week with Marilyn" is as appealing as its title star, and is worth much more than a background story from the filming of "The Prince and the Showgirl."
