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The movie is deliberately lightweight fare in the mode of The King's Speech or any of those awful Richard Curtis/Hugh Grant films, but somehow this flick is more engaging. Ken Branagh does his party turn as the aging Olivier (and does it very well of course), Julia Ormond is Vivien Leigh, Eddie Redmayne is the young Colin Clark and a transcendent Michelle Williams captures some of the essence and magic of Monroe. The opening act is very breezy and the film only bogs a little near the end when everyone becomes very wise and begins spouting improbable screenwriter's dialogue. "I cast Marilyn to recapture my own youth through her," "Olivier is a great actor who wants to be a movie star and you are a movie star who wants to be a great actress," etc.
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There are nice performances from a pixie-like Emma Watson as a wardrobe assistant and a regal Judy Dench as Dame Sybil Thorndike but the real pleasure in My Week is Michelle Williams's incredible performance as a vulnerable, funny, sad, radiant Marilyn Monroe. I reckon My Week With Marilyn is the real reason Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes got divorced. Katie saw this on DVD a few weeks ago and thought my God, I was the star of Dawson's Creek not Michelle Williams, what the hell has happened to my career! And of course this was not even Michelle Williams's best performance of last year which came in the minimalist western that no one saw, the underrated, Meek's Cutoff.
18 comments:
What is the certain age for chaps??? What does that signify? As Marilyn died when she was 36, she didn't reach the certain age for women (which is when they become invisible... )
Reading your blog has helped to widen my horizons, in all thing literature, and cinematic. My plaint-I don't have enough time. :)
My god--who wasn't in this cast? I'd watch it for Branagh doing Olivier alone.
... those awful Richard Curtis/Hugh Grant films ...
You must love the scene in The Thick of It where Jamie yells at Ollie: “Shut it, Love Actually.”
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Deb
Hmmm, I reckon men over 30 will like this but any younger and they'll probably ask questions like who is Marilyn Monroe or who is Laurence Olivier?
Lil
Glad to be of service!
Check that. Itlooks the same actor who plays Ollie, but the character is called Toby. Maybe the scene is from In the Loop.
Seana
I forgot that Derek Jacobi shows up as a Royal librarian.
Peter
Ahh, Jamie, he should have been in S3. I hope that he's in S4.
Peter
Doesnt Ollie say hello and Jamie replies "enough of these fucking Brideshead Revisted plesantries" or something?
I did find this Jamie line:
"No, what we're having here is a secret conversation and I'm hoping that this time you can keep the fucking secret, because normally you're about as secure as a hymen in a south London comprehensive."
Right. That's offensive on a number of levels.
The “Love Actually” line is at 3:45 here. Looks like it’s from the movie.
Maybe they should have called it The Tale of Three Hamlets.
Wasn't too crazy about it either. Thought it lacked actual focus. The book is actually about a man experiencing being with Marilyn as the move sold itself on Michelle Williams' interpretation of her. She did a good job (as usual), but she's better than this. She's not fit for opportunistic crap from wannabee Oscar winners.
Loved it. Her performance was perfect.
Ben
I liked Branagh too in this. He's got an odd face Branagh and he looks nothing like Olivier but I thought it still worked.
John
It should have got the Oscar instead of Dame Meryl if you ask me.
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