My Week With Marilyn

'My Week With Marilyn'.

One of the evenings I spent in Lincoln last week with the girlf (see previous post) featured a much belated viewing of the film 'My Week With Marilyn'.

The film itself was very impressive, a nice little snapshot into the life of Monroe without feeling the need to go into any greater biographical detail. This is something admirable these days given that there's a fairly recent and current Hollywood trend to make films focussing on the entire lifetime of a cultural icon. Something I feel cannot be achieved fully within the time frame of two and half hours.

Eddie Redmayne as Colin Clark.

What I found most enthralling about this film, one which centres around a very minute story, was how well it stood up, mostly thanks to some excellent performances from some very impressive acting talent; Eddie Redmayne puts in a very engaging performance as our narrator and way-in, Colin Clark. Unfortunately for Redmayne his character wasn't written too deeply and so is left to offer the best he can with a scantly drawn character. However, he does this incredibly well and holds the audience's attention, his character's lack of depth isn't too much of an issue either, partially due to the fact that the story is told from Clark's viewpoint and thus, allows for a more sketchy portrayal of himself.

Emma Watson as Lucy.

Another lightly drawn character is that of the singularly named Lucy, played with considerable skill by the ever-lovely Emma Watson. Not only does she look like a sweet natured, vintage-themed girl-next-door, she evokes an entirely different way of life to that of Marilyn and therefore creates a nice juxtaposition when confronted with the fact that Clark finds himself attracted to both Lucy and Monroe. Watson's portrayal is simple, subtle and without flair. That last sentence sounds like a criticism, it's not. Quite the contrary, in fact, I feel that Watson's ability to convey everything she needs to without going into more showy territory is worth of merit and thus her performance in this film is worth a mention, even if her part is only small and quiet, much like her character itself.

Michelle Williams as Marilyn Monroe.

Naturally, Michelle Williams shines as the titular Mrs Marilyn Miller (né Monroe) giving a very impressive and commendable outing as the troubled starlet. She is given the chance to flex her acting muscles and really show the audience what she can do as an actress, while simultaneously allowing her performance to seem natural and believable. I know very little about Monroe (something I intend to change post-haste) but Williams' performance served as a wonderful taster of the life and career of one of pop cultures most enduring icons. Williams was very lucky in the scripting department, with writers giving her some very natural, colloquial speech which seems to have allowed her to slip into the character of Monroe far easier than if she had been given the aforementioned Colin Clark treatment. Physically she's a very good bit of casting for Monroe, evoking her physical shape and size while also retaining a lot of her classic beauty. She's not a dead-ringer but what she lacks facially, she more than makes up for in sheer performance believability.

While there are many performances in this film worthy of mention, I don't wish to go into too much detail, naturally Dame Judy Dench is wonderful to the last, as she always is, Toby Jones gives a deliciously sleezy turn as Arthur Jacobs and Dougray Scott was inspired casting for Arthur Miller, however, my favourite performance of all in this film is the absolute genius that is Kenneth Branagh as Sir Laurence Olivier.

Kenneth Branagh as Sir Laurence Olivier.

I've always been a big fan of Branagh and his work, from directing and starring in Hamlet, to his more recent performance at the Olympic opening ceremony as Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Branagh is one of the best, most prolific actor's of his generation. Suffice it to say, he has often been called the Olivier of the modern age, a title I believe he thoroughly deserves, so, indeed, who better to play Olivier himself?

Branagh's performance is well measured, equal parts subtle and explosive while also feeling heavily flavoured with Olivier's trademark theatricality. The most noticeable touches to his performance are when you see Olivier in front of the camera and behind the scenes in quick succession, Branagh seems to absolutely nail the idea of performing with a performance and does Olivier proud, never allowing the audience to hate the great man, even when you feel that you should.

The film itself is engaging, entertaining and very well made, the performances mentioned above elevate it from a simple tool of a Marilyn Monroe revival to being a wonderful piece of thought-provoking, heart-rendering theatrical cinema.

See you next time, dear reader.