I’ve always been fascinated by Marilyn Monroe, along with the rest of the world, I’m sure. My fascination, however, has never been for the sexpot, but rather the unseen and tortured Monroe, a side to the star the world has only seen through the vicarious glimpses of the people who surrounded her and committed their experiences to paper. My Week With Marilyn, based on the Colin Clark memoir of the same name, attempts to show us just that. It sadly falls short of just that as well.
The film follows the story of Colin Clark (Eddie Redmayne), an assistant on the set of The Prince and the Showgirl, and the week he spends with Marilyn, gaining her confidences, getting intimately close to the woman behind the icon and falling in love with her. It stars Michelle Williams as Marilyn, and while physically the resemblance isn’t 100% there, Williams more waif than buxom blonde, she exhibits the warble of the icon’s voice and childlike demeanor and vulnerability very well.
My Week with Marilyn, however, seems to have trouble moving beyond these stereotypes of Monroe.
The film insists that the icon was a person, layered and complicated, but it never quite shows us this. What it does show us a lot of is Williams as Monroe doing a lot shimmying and pouting for audiences. The film implies that in their short time together, Colin gets to know a Marilyn that no one else is capable of. He tells her, no one understands you. If you pay enough attention, however, that’s a sentiment shared by all that surround her. No one understands the real Marilyn Monroe, they all fall in love with the icon, as does Colin and this film, reneging the genuinely flawed and human Monroe again and again.
Admittedly, My Week with Marilyn has its merits. Performances from Kenneth Branagh as Sir Laurence Olivier and Dame Judi Dench as Sybil Thorndike are par for excellence. It is beautifully shot and rendered, the entire film seemingly shot through some magical fable like gauze. There is a detail in the films period piece elements that go a long way in creating the right mood. My Week with Marilyn could have delved deeper, however, and should have. As it stands, it does not shed any new light on Marilyn Monroe, instead hiding her in the shadow of herself even more.
Sarah McBride’s thoughts on music, film, lit and life can be found at sarahism.com. You can follow her on twitter @sarahism.