I went to see it because the main character of Colin Clark is played by one of my absolute favorite actors, the relatively little-known Eddie Redmayne, who happens to be talented, attractive and British. So there I was sitting in the beautiful Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor with no expectations other than seeing my celebrity crush dressed in 1950’s regalia when the movie began rolling and my expectations were blown away.
In 1996 Colin Clark published a memoir about his time working as a lowly director’s assistant on the set of “The Prince and the Showgirl,” the famous movie starring Marilyn Monroe and Lawrence Olivier. The memoir contained a chronicle of six months, but it was missing one week.
Years later he published another memoir entitled “My Week With Marilyn,” the story of that missing week in which Clark tells of a blissful seven days of falling in love and discovering the unmasked Marilyn Monroe during a complicated and stressful time on the movie set.
The movie’s captivating quality rests upon an abundance of brilliant acting. Most obviously is Michelle Williams, whose rendition of Monroe is eerily accurate both visually and emotionally. Kenneth Branagh as Lawrence Olivier perfectly executes the double-sided turmoil of a flamboyant yet quietly frustrated actor and an openly infuriated director.
Branagh also has some of the best lines, such as the truthful, “Trying to teach Marilyn to act is like teaching Urdu to a badger.” Also noteworthy are Julia Ormond as Vivian Leigh, and Judy Densch as the hilarious Dame Sybil Thorndike. Emma Watson even makes an appearance as Clark’s discarded love interest, Lucy.
Clark describes the story as “a few days in my life when a dream came true,” and the movie carries this dream-like quality. With gorgeous cinematography and the topic of a larger-than-life movie star, “My Week with Marilyn” demands blind faith in Clark’s fantastical account.
There is a great depth of character displayed as we see Monroe shift seamlessly between dissatisfied, childlike woman to happily idolized icon. One can never truly know the complexity of Monroe’s deception, as Olivier hypothesizes that with each action, “Marilyn knows exactly what she’s doing.”
Redmayne produces a brilliant portrayal of a starstruck boy overly eager and naïve in the face of a dangerous attraction. The movie explores the possibility of an affair of emotions, as passionate and tumultuous as any other, yet uncomplicated by a sexual relationship.
In the film, Clark speaks of the thespian issues in “The Prince and the Showgirl” by saying to Monroe, “[Olivier’s] a great actor who wants to be a film star, and you’re a film star who wants to be a great actor. This film won’t help either of you.”
This proved fatefully to be true, but if the quality of acting is any indication, “My Week With Marilyn” is a film that will certainly entertain everyone lucky enough to be watching.
