Based on the book The Prince, The Showgirl and Me, The movie My Week With Marilyn is about the production of the movie The Prince and The Showgirl (1957) from the eyes of the third assistant director Colin Clark (Eddie Redmayne). The movie starts with Colin getting a job as the assistant of Lawrence Olivier (Kenneth Branagh) who is directing The Prince and The Showgirl. His job consists of preparing everything for the female lead in the movie, Marilyn Monroe (Michelle Williams). Once filming is ready to begin, Colin asks for a role in the production of the movie and is given the role of Third Assistant Director, whose responsibility is to do as their told. This allows Colin to be on set all the time and get to know lots of the cast including Dame Sybil Thorndike (Judi Dench) and he also develops a special friendship with Marilyn.
I went into this movie expecting something similar to The Queen or The Aviator and i got just that. Of course I’m not saying it is exactly like either of those movies but it is in the same league. It is a movie based on real events full of actors you will recognize, similar to The Queen or The Aviator. If you enjoyed those movies, or if you are a fan of movies from that time then you will like this movie.
I have to say that while the story was good, it was a little predictable. I did however, enjoy the performances by some of the actors. Kenneth Branagh played a great role. How accurate it was I’m not too sure but I enjoyed it. Another great performance was Judi Dench. You might know her from the Bond films as “M”. Yet again, not sure about the accuracy of the character but enjoyable nonetheless.
Then there is Michelle Willams performance. While not as realistic as other movies I’ve seen where actors and actresses have portrayed real characters, both Williams and the writers managed to give a fairly accurate portrayal of Marilyn Monroe. If you don’t know much about Marilyn, she wasn’t the best actor, she was mostly hired for her looks, and this is shown in My Week With Marilyn. There were also other parts of Marilyns life that I think were conveyed very well to the audience.
I recommend that you go and see this movie. It is definitely worthy of a couple of Oscar nominations, although not too sure if it will win anything.
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