My Week with Marilyn

Ah, Oscar season!

It’s nice to see award contenders finally appearing in theaters. Surely in the running for Best Picture will be My Week with Marilyn, based on Colin Clark’s 1996 memoir of his time spent on the set of a forgettable romantic comedy in 1957, starring the unforgettable Marilyn Monroe and a British actor named Laurence Olivier.

Monroe was, um, trouble on the set.

She was always late, she never knew her lines, and she was terminally insecure around the accomplished cast of British actors. Oh, and she popped a lot of pills.

But man was she gorgeous.

So gorgeous that everyone on set was effectively in love with her. And yet, it was 23 year-old Colin Clark that got to be her special companion, at least for one memorable week, during filming.

This came about because Marilyn’s erratic behavior gradually alienated everyone else, including Olivier – played terrifically by one-time “the next Olivier” Kenneth Branagh. As a consequence, the set grew increasingly antagonistic toward Marilyn, which made her insecurities skyrocket and her diva-ish behavior even worse.

Enter starstruck, lovelorn, third assistant director Colin. So unstinting and unconditional was his affection for Monroe that he became her buffer against the judgmentalism of the others. She took him everywhere, including visits to Buckingham Palace, jaunts to the country – which included skinnydipping! – and even snuggle sessions in bed.

The story is presented as if they didn’t actually have sex, but Monroe certainly used her sexuality to bind Colin to her completely. Colin is sweet and simple, and on the surface, Marilyn seems the same. But though Olivier’s warning to Colin, that Marilyn is savvier than she appears, is lost on Colin, it is not lost on us.

Marilyn DID know what she was doing.

The week ends as we knew it must, with Marilyn saying goodbye – though if the movie is true to life, her farewell to Colin was both classy and considerate – and Colin returning to his life of obscurity. Also a life without Emma Watson, a fellow production employee whom Colin was courting before the Marilyn Monroe train chugged into station.

All in all, Colin seems mostly enchanted by his week with Marilyn, and in the end he seems to regret nothing, not even Emma Watson.

The whole thing reminds me of my favorite movie from 2009, An Education, with the gender roles reversed. These are classic sadder-but-wiser stories, and maybe the reason I like An Education more is that the protagonist of that film was made significantly sadder by the end of her affair, and so, became commensurately wiser.

Unlike Carey Mulligan, Colin just wishes his week with Marilyn could go on forever. He doesn’t really learn anything about Marilyn, or himself.

And so we’ve got a good film, not a great one. We do, however, have a great performance from Michelle Williams. Her Monroe is utterly beguiling, and I don’t see any way on this Earth she doesn’t win the Best Actress statuette for her efforts.

Not to say she deserves it – who deserves any of these ridiculous awards? – but she’s impersonating a famous figure in a period drama, everyone in town knows her and likes her, she’s never won an award, and she’s got the tragic background thing in spades.

So put all your money on Williams to win, and My Week with Marilyn to place.

SCORE

How Accomplished: 83/100

How Much I Enjoyed: 81/100