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The film follows Monroe when she came to England in 1956 to make the rather lacklustre The Prince and the Showgirl and the relationship she formed with Colin (Eddie Redmayne) and the inevitable problems she had while shooting. A subject matter it deals with rather leisurely and with a relatively light tone, which works well in creating a nice, light, enjoyable piece of work. However, this is at the same time quite problematic, as it means that the film never really seems to get to the heart of her character as it seems a little afraid to delve into the darker side of the subject matter with any real force of impact. For although her personal problems in marriage, self-confidence and career are all there, it never dwells upon them meaning that we're never quite able to pin down Marilyn’s exact character or truly feel for her.
A shame because Michelle Williams is very good in her role, getting the movements and gestures pinned down very well, and she even manages to pull off a couple of musical numbers. Indeed, she is in good company; Eddie Redmayne for one gives a nice performance as her fish out of water friend Colin. And the film's brilliant supporting cast delivers many of the best moments as they discuss gossip, stealing a considerable amount of the lead's thunder. Judi Dench gives a sweet and heart-warming performance and is of course a joy to watch, as is much of the rest of the cast with recognisable names like Toby Jones, Emma Watson and Michael Kitchen all appearing in the background and doing very well with small amounts of material. All the while Kenneth Branagh’s Lawrence Oliver happily takes the film’s best lines with his rants, even claiming at one point that ‘teaching her to act is like teaching a badger Urdu’. Unfortunately the rest of the film is not as good as the acting, it never leads into particularly exciting, difficult or interesting territory. And at the same time it does not feel particularly cinematic, instead feeling rather like a television-movie and thus not at home on the big screen.
My Week with Marilyn is therefore a work with considerable flaws, never seemingly getting to the heart of the subject matter it's clearly in love with. That said it has many fine performances, and the script is witty and enjoyable; it just never goes into new or more intriguing territory, meaning that whilst it remains a pleasant picture to watch, it is forgettable and isn’t really anything special.
My Week with Marilyn is showing at York City Screen. For more information visit http://www.picturehouses.co.uk/cinema/York_Picturehouse/
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