Marilyn Monroe was an impossibly difficult actress to work with because she seemed so incompetent and insecure at every turn. But when she got it right, she made magic happen.
“My Week With Marilyn” makes a point of this numerous times. It adores the blonde bombshell so much that it drills her greatness into your head. And yet, Michelle Williams is so effervescent and captivating by rejuvenating Monroe’s presence that she makes lightning strike twice.
We meet Monroe through Colin Clark (Eddie Redmayne), a starry eyed kid with idealistic ambitions to be a film director. He gets a third assistant director job on Laurence Olivier’s (Kenneth Branagh) next movie, the light comedy “The Prince and the Showgirl.”
From the moment Marilyn steps off the plane in England, the movie places her on a staggering pedestal with a swimmingly saccharine chorus of violins in Conrad Pope’s score. She’s a goddess, the best actress and movie star who ever lived, and the movie doesn’t let us forget it.
Monroe is surrounded by acting coaches and former lovers who all sing praises to her so that when she fumbles a line or misunderstands the script she won’t just quit and curl up into a ball on the floor.
And then she does it right, and we can see the glowing difference in her personality thanks to Williams’ performance. But you can then bet that someone will then say, “When Marilyn gets it right, she really gets it right,” and the movie will flash a few more black and white freeze frames or bursting flash bulbs onto her shining face in case you forgot how great she is.
The problem is her development as an already aging actress struggling to maintain a godly image is a flimsy idea filtered through third parties. Colin is the one closest to her and everyone else, speaking to her insecurities and depth as a character, but he himself is a bland, charmless individual with no defining qualities. His own conflicts include a dopey romance with a costume girl (Emma Watson) that goes nowhere.
Our time should be spent more with Monroe as an individual, but our time alone with her is cut short by dozens of acquaintances constantly patting her on the back.
We do get some juicy moments from Branagh as Laurence Olivier. He plays him as an effortless but never over the top bombast with some much needed wit and cynicism. He’s also the biggest other film history figure in a movie that could be classified as film history lite. A few people who know who Marilyn Monroe might also have heard of Vivien Leigh, and even less will have heard of cinematographer Jack Cardiff. But for the priceless few that have, it will offer little other taste of Old Hollywood than a setting with a glossy veneer.
For the amount of time we see Michelle Williams naked butt tempting us with Marilyn’s va-voom, we realize all of “My Week With Marilyn” is a bit of a tease, giving us a good glimpse of the sexiest of all starlets without much of a real insight.
2 ½ stars