My Week With Marilyn

Cast: Michelle Williams, Eddie Redmayne, Kenneth Branagh
Director: Simon Curtis

Why do the people I love always leave me?

This movie has been on my to-watch list for an awfully long time and it’s only now that I had the time to sit through a biopic about one of Hollywood’s iconic celebrities, Marilyn Monroe. She led a rather eventful life, which came into an end when she died at a ripe age of 36. Even as years past, no one could forget the blonde bombshell that made her name in Hollywood’s limelight.

Shot during the time of the filming of The Prince and the Showgirl, it tells the tale of Colin Clark, who worked alongside Monroe in this period piece. While the film itself has a solid story and great cinematography, no one jumps out the screen except for Michelle Williams as the titular character.

The way Williams portrayed Monroe made me think that ‘this must be how Marilyn really was when she was alive’, then going back again to ‘Oh wait, that’s Michelle Williams and her portrayal may be subjective since she’s not the real person’. She was amazing in this film; she could string the audience into believing that she is the icon. Her performance overshadowed everyone else’s, considering that she got Kenneth Branagh. Eddie Redmayne wasn't fantastic, but he’s good as an inexperienced worker in the world of film making. I know there are no small parts, and I usually love Emma Watson but her acting irked me here. I don’t think she has the skills for a period piece, she seems rather out of place.

The film itself is not memorable, per say. The script was well-written, the cinematography was good. It had this art-inspiration to it, not like the usual biopics that depicted solidity. This one was more soft and subtle, as to make it appear that nothing was staged and everything is what it was. Williams does stand out in this movie (as always); her performance was terrific. However, as good as she was, it’s not exactly enough to save this movie from running a bit overtime and lagging in some parts.