Tuesday, 6 December 2011

My Week with Marilyn

I made an effort through the sleet and snow to see this movie and I am glad I did. For one thing, the acting is brilliant. Kenneth Branagh does a great turn as Sir Laurence Olivier, Judi Dench also great, and Michelle Williams does a wonderful Marilyn Monroe.

The movie is about the making of the Fifties film "The Prince and the Showgirl", starring Olivier and Monroe, but more deeply it is about Marilyn as a wholly instinctive actress, and the insecurities she experienced both because of her lack of formal training, and because of her traumatized childhood.

At one point, Olivier acknowledges her great presence on screen, and remarks how much pain she must endure as such a completely intuitive performer. But at the beginning he tries to bully her into following the usual rules, with absolutely no success.

Lovely portrait of an artist.

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