Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Best movie ever!

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Perhaps not in the sense of authority, but her ability to be the most important person in a room. On a stage, down a street or even waltzing through a school, everyone knew who she was. Her acclaim and beauty was able to captivate everyone. And yet beneath the surface was a troubled young woman where the pressure of work and Hollywood drove her to depression and doubting her own self-belief. Her inexperienced training and method acting contrasted with Laurence Olivier's more traditional and thespian approach, I thought that was conveyed well. If you wanted to watch a film about Monroe's psychological decline, unfortunately this is not the film (although I think it would've benefitted exploring that route). This focusses on the difficult production of The Prince and the Showgirl and the sweet innocent love between third assistant director Colin Clark and Monroe. It's a story that is much about him as it is Monroe. Director Simon Curtis was able to capture the fragility and inevitable heartbreak that one goes through when attempting to pursue their first love. There is a thought provoking line towards the end that reads "our first love is such sweet despair" and is extremely apparent here. This is an actor's film, and what I mean by that is the acting is the primary method of captivation. No visuals, no divisiveness...just outstanding acting. Michelle Williams exhumed elegance and definitely transformed herself to not only look like Monroe but vocally sound like her. It was breathtaking to watch. Eddie Redmayne and Kenneth Branagh were both excellent also and the wealth of British talent was wonderful to watch. I appreciated the narrative to be presented in a cheery and more delightful manner, it makes the experience more uplifting and classy. Whilst I would've liked the exploration into Monroe's depression and addiction to drugs, alcohol etc. I did think the story itself was enthralling enough to be adapted. It's brief, it's concise and it's lovely to watch.

Lots of reviewers scoffing at the veracity of the premise of the story. Some claiming incredulity that anyone could believe the story. I don't really understand that criticism. For me the veracity of the story is secondary, or tertiary even, to its believability on screen. Having said that I don't really know what kind of lives the critics of the story have had - black and white, with simple 2-dimensional characters I should imagine. In real life (my life at least) people do unexpected things. Troubled people are even more likely to do the unexpected. So I found it quite believable.Anyway, I finally got around to watching this film on DVD recently, long after critics and fans had moved on to newer pickings. I watched it 3 times in a week, and will certainly watch it again in the near future. I think it was well cast and well acted, and planted firmly and believably in the late 1950s. Suffice to say Michelle Williams is heartbreakingly good as Marilyn Monroe.

I read THE PRINCE, THE SHOWGIRL, AND ME by Colin Clark only two or three years back, and it was an enjoyable enough book. But I had no particular interest in seeing the film that had already been made from it. I was wrong! The movie is something of a sleeper, or, if you will, a minor delight throughout, almost totally because of the performances, but also because the film seems a bit more moving, and certainly catches Marilyn Monroe's character better than does the book. And therein the big surprise: Michelle Williams is downright wonderful as Monroe, by far the best of the various Marilyn Monroes (or pastiches of same) that we have seen over the years. Although not as astounding as the original in purely physical terms, she does look very much like her, and manages to always sound like Monroe without the constant added breathy quality that all the others overindulge themselves in. I must say right here that I have never been a big Monroe fan, for I feel she had a natural but very limited acting talent (one can hardly imagine her playing Lady Macbeth, Norma Desmond or Stella Dallas). Michelle Williams's performance as her in this film is probably ten times better than she could have done it herself. One feels and feels for this Marilyn Monroe, much more so than one ever felt for any original Monroe character (except maybe in portions of BUS STOP). Williams also doesn't sing quite as well as Marilyn could and occasionally did; Monroe's singing voice was both more musical and more sexy. A wonderful job, and I obviously must see more of Ms. Williams. Kenneth Branagh (he's the real reason I bought the film) was superb throughout as Olivier; even if he never looks anything like him, he certainly sounds like him in the amazing variety of his subtle vocal inflections (of which Olivier was the absolute master). Also, in 1956 Olivier, even with all that princely make-up, still had, at 49, the remnants of his very handsome youthful self. Branagh is a great actor, but handsome? Afraid not. Julia Ormond as Vivien Leigh did okay, but looked a bit too solidly built for Vivien, who was really a very fragile-looking and often sickly woman by this time, Judi Dench was fine as Sybil Thorndike, Eddie Redmayne perfect for the storyteller, but I just loved the severe and almost ambitiously catatonic state that Zoe Wanamaker wandered around in 90% of the time as Paula Strassberg (the nearest thing Olivier had to a Nemesis on Earth!). Wanamaker, American-born, English-raised and now back to an American accent as the Mentor from Hell, who even goes so far as to call Marilyn 'bubbala' in one scene, is someone who adds stature to any cast she appears in, but this is as unlikely a role as I have ever seen her in. Anyway, a very enjoyable and moving film on a subject I had no expectation of being moved by. Bravo! (Gratuitously added comment: More than once in this film, Marilyn is referred to as the biggest female movie star in the world. See how telling a lie over and over again can make it seem like the truth? I would suggest that box-office receipts of the 1950s would show that Elizabeth Taylor, Doris Day, possibly Susan Hayward, and most definitely of all Deborah Kerr, were all bigger stars than Marilyn, even if she might have been the most publicized Hollywood figure of that decade.)

I think the plot of "My Week with Marilyn" as such was sweet & predictable, resting largely on what some of us already know about the debacles on the set of "The Prince and the Showgirl," and there were no surprises there. The film is mainly worth seeing because of its many stars, and Dench, Wanamaker, and Jacobi are always worth watching, but what will stay with me after having seen the film is Branagh's absolutely and chillingly spot-on performance as Laurence Olivier. I don't think I've ever seen the like! There were moments - especially at the first rehearsal and later when Olivier was in costume, when I positively forgot it was Branagh. I swear. If the performance at times bordered on parody it was only because Olivier at times appeared to be parodying himself. It was a stunning performance. Branagh is a great actor.