Review: My week with Marilyn

Even though Marylin Monroe has been one of the most talked about and most admired actresses of all times, until very recently I have never thought more of her than another pretty face (mind you a very very pretty one). I was aware of her struggles and was sure that one should rather feel sorry for the woman who so desperately tried to please in order to be loved. But not until last night I was actually aware of how extraordinary she was and why people admired her so much.

After an afternoon at the movies I decided to end the day with something special and having seen “My week with Marilyn” show up at nearly every awards ceremony last year, I decided that this should be it. And boy what a treat it was. Not only was it a story talking about the love for the movies but the cast assembled was extraordinary: Kenneth Brannagh as Laurence Olivier, Julia Ormond as his wife Vivienne Leigh, Michelle Williams as Marilyn, the always delightful Dame Judi Dench as Dame Sybil Thorndike and Eddie Redmayne as the protagonist who tells the viewer about his week with Marilyn. Apparently this is a real story and while I believe the writer took some literary freedom I can imagine this story could have happened.

After some successful movies and newly wed to playwright Arthur Miller Marilyn Monroe arrives in the UK in order to star in a movie with stage legend Sir Laurence Olivier. Meanwhile eager Colin Clark wants to leave his posh family home and work in the film business. Being persistent and clever he gets a job as a Third assistant Director (pretty much a girl for everything for the director) but after a while his main job is to make sure the fragile super star shows up on set somewhat on time.

To the viewer as well as Eddie it becomes obvious that not everybody around Marilyn has her best interest at heart but rather their own. She is a bankable star so the producers, managers and other business people do what it takes to cash in on her. And if that means drugging her in order to play her role – so be it. Michelle Williams doesn’t so much play the role of Marilyn Monroe as BE her. She has he demure, her beauty and voice. So why was it so hard, also having her get her body – Marilyn was known to being a real women (rather than a size 0 stick) but when she skinny dips in a lake it becomes more than obvious that the curves she has in tight dresses are nothing more than a “Marilyn-suit” (I simply refuse to call it a fat suit because that would be plain ridiculous!). But apart from that nitpicking – Michelle Williams IS Marilyn Monroe.

But not only Michelle Williams stands out in this movie full of amazing actors. Kenneth Brannagh doesn’t shy away from showing the vain and proud Laurence Olivier with all his weaknesses but also in all his acting glory. It was also great to see the gorgeous Julia Ormond back on stage. After enchanting us in “Legends of the Falls” and “The First Knight” she slipped away but makes a wonderful return as the equally beautiful as troubled Vivien Leigh. I always have issues with the fact that casting directors apparently are not able to find the correct nationality for certain roles. At least British actors are mostly able to speak in a convincing US-American accent but I still found it weird to hear Toby Jones or Dominic Cooper speaking in such an accent. In one of her first roles after finishing “Harry Potter” Emma Watson tried to show that she is more than Hermione Granger but in all fairness, I need more convincing that this movie.

What this movie really is about is how awfully sorry you have to feel for Marilyn Monroe. Having a rare talent everybody in the business admired and envied her for, she was so unsure and insecure about herself that she needed constant support but looked in all the wrong places for it. At the same time this movie is a love letter to the time when actors were famous for their acting skills rather than their latest sex tapes. A time when making movies was still considered creating dreams. And Marilyn Monroe was the ultimate dream that everybody dreamed about but no one – not even the woman who embodied her – could ever hold on to.

Trailerwatch: Take this waltz

With all the big blockbusters releasing their latest trailers, I would like to point you towards a quieter more subtle little movie that received a lot of positive attention at last years Toronto Film Festival – “Take this waltz”.

It is the latest movie by Sarah Polley whose first feature “Away from her” which got Julie Christie an Oscar nomination. Take this waltz stars Michelle Williams and Seth Rogan and tells the story of a young wife who struggles with infedelity.There is no release date set so far.

Trailerwatch: My week with Marylin

Here we have another movie that has been in the press for serious Oscar talks (though noone has seen it yet): My week with Marylin.

I find the trailer too strongly cut to really see if Michelle Williams really is that strong though so far I have never seen her in a bad role (apart from Dawsons Creek). And I am not yet sure if I can really believe Kenneth Brannagh as they greatest Actor Sir Laurence Olivier. We will have to wait until the final movie is released.

The cast include Eddie Redmayne, Kenneth Branagh, Dougray Scott, Dominic Cooper, Emma Watson, Julia Ormond and Dame Judi Dench.

Review: Blue Valentine

Going into movies with certain expectations is never a good thing to start with because it usually ends with disappointment for me. As a big fan of Antique Mythology (the only way to save my grades in Latin class) I was extremely looking forward to “Troy” – of course I should have known better than to expect a fair treatment of such literary legacy by Wolfgang Petersen. But boy was that bad….

So when I first heard about the latest project of Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams called Blue Valentine making waves at the Sundance Film Festival in winter 2010 I was very intrigued. Both actors recently found critical acclaim (Half Nelson & Broke Back Mountain respectively) and the story sounded interesting but because I now live in Germany I had nearly 18 months to follow this movie before I finally saw it: talk about building the hype!

Things I heard was mostly: “one of the most depressing movies ever made”, “not watchable when you are not in love”, “amazing but haunting performances by its leads” and so on. It even garnered Michelle Williams an Oscar Nomination at this years Academy awards (sadly lost to Natalie Portman) so by the time I went into the movie there were HUGE expectations.

And they were all met!

Rarely have I seen such real performances that made you FEEL the pain they were experiencing. “Blue Valentine” tells the story of Cindy and Dean and how they first fell in love and then found themselves out of it. The movie shifts effortless between present and past and never becomes confusing in which time you are right now. Each character has its flaws and treats the other in a rather disrespectful or even hurtful way and at the same time you can see how those 2 people used to be crazy over each other. I read that most of the dialogue was improvised (not a good script?) but it gives the film a kind of credibility that those two really talk to each other and not just for the camera. And once again kudos to the make up department for making someone as beautiful as Ryan Gosling so ugly!

There was one thing I found rather weird though – I didn’t find it as depressing as everybody said it would be. Yes it was sad seeing them fight and hurt each other but maybe because you took part in their getting to know each other at the same time it wasn’t so bad. I found that the beginning of their love affair was already telling about their end. The movie just showed what not to do in a relationship. Or maybe I am just simplifying it too much.

But all in all it was an amazing movie that more people should watch! And if it’s just to show that we should be thankful to Dawson Creek for giving us Michelle Williams and to the Disney Club for Ryan Gosling!