Movie review - "My Week with Marilyn" (2011) ***1/2

The Prince and the Showgirl isn't a particularly memorable film but the circumstances of it's production were: the world's greatest sex symbol working with the world's greatest actor, both of whom also had legendary spouses. It wasn't a disaster or even that drama packed (compared to say Raintree County) but the personalities were so strong: Arthur Miller, Vivien Leigh, Terrence Rattigan, Paula Strasberg, etc.

Film buffs in particular will derive a lot of enjoyment from this - references to getting the rewrites from Terry (Rattigan doesn't appear), a cameo from Jack Cardiff complete with his cap, roles to Arthur Jacobs and Milton Greene. The work is sympathetic to Monroe: lots of men warn Eddie Redmayne not to fall for her because she'll destroy him, and that she's not as naive as she appears - but we never see that. Everything we are shown is her being a little lost and insecure, and Laurence Olivier not being very nice for scolding her (presumably through to jealousy). 

 

Surprisingly it was very sympathetic to Vivien Leigh (Julia Ormond, believable) - no glimpse of the notorious nutter and cheater here, just a woman afraid of getting old and losing her husband, and being nice to Marilyn. It's also very nice to Dame Sybil Thorndike (Judi Dench, excellent) who is shown to be loving and supportive- there's a wonderful actor moment where Marilyn keeps fluffing her lines and she asks Marilyn if she wouldn't mind going over lines to help her.

Not all the female characters are sympathetic - Paula Strasberg (Zoe Wanamaker, terrific) is depicted as a bit of a freeloader, continually boosting Marilyn's ego and perhaps not with her best interests at heart. Milton Greene doesn't come across very well.

Colin Clarke is dead now so the filmmakers had a free hand with the characterisation. It's a half success - Eddie Redmayne is at least a different sort of male lead, not a conventional pretty boy; at times I found him irritating, other times winning. The real Clarke seems to have been one of those British upper class types who benefit from family connections: Dad an art historian, family friend of Vivien Leigh, related to people who work at Windsor Castle, he went on to have a not-much career making documentaries for British TV, which is an extension of the private school system anyway.

I got the feeling at times the film had been cut for pacing - scenes such as the opening ones involving Clarke's family feel abrupt, Emily Watson comes and goes, Judi Dench disappears for long slabs. And the low budget hurts at times - the crowd and filming scenes feel like they could have done with more extras. But the acting is strong, the production design a delight and Michelle Williams does excellently in an impossible role. She's not Monroe but who is, and she comes as close as anyone I can remember.