Third assistant to the director prefers blondes.

'My week with Marilyn'

I find it incredibly interesting when we are confronted with a film based on a true story account from one person, especially when the subject of the story is a Big screen Icon, in this case none other then Marilyn Monroe. Because of course this is still one persons recollection of events, so it can be argued, is it all true? But on the other hand does it really matter when it is a great story and makes a great film? I'd rather take a bit of myth and legend. This is based on the diary's of Colin Clark, worked on the set of the 1957 film, 'The Prince and the Showgirl', where he spent some time with the 'blonde bombshell'.

Colin Clark (Eddie Redmayne) is a 23 year old young man, with aspirations of working on the movies, gets his lucky break to work on Sir Laurence Olivier's (Kenneth Branagh) upcoming film 'The Prince and the Showgirl', where the co-star is Marilyn Monroe (Michelle Williams), who at the time was at the height of her fame, and arguably the biggest actress in the world. But Marilyn, who at the time had problems with her nerves and pressure of fame, struggles with nailing her lines on set and actually being on time to shoot the movie, leads Olivier to be frustrated and desperately trying to bring out the best in her. With her third husband, play write Arthur Miller leaving her for a few days to see his children, and there is also tension between them. So on chance occasions Colin and Marilyn both run into each other, and eventually on Marilyn 's wishes, he spends time with her, much too the dismay of wardrobe hand Lucy (Emma Watson), who Colin was kind of dating. As Colin and Marilyn spend more and more time together, he is warned that she will only break his heart. Poor Chap.

As far a performances go, Kenneth Branagh knocks this one out of the park. He brings Larry to life brilliantly. I felt Michelle Williams lacked the sparkle, which a lead actress should have really, maybe wasn't her best performance, see Blue Valentine for her in a good role. There are some nice smaller role parts from Judi Dench and Emma Watson.

I went in to this movie not really interested in the story, not really my film, but I was surprised it wasn't bad, but not great, it did lack a bit on the performance side of things. But the story was interesting and there was some nice moments, where Sir Laurence, starts to question his own desire and his acting. The Romance scenes did seem a little cringe worthy, and the quicker they was over the better.

Simon Curtis has made a nice film here, which will interest people, because of the subject, but it doesn't hit on all the marks. Worth a rent for a weeknight movie if there is nothing on the Television worth watching.

3 out of 5