watch: my week with marilyn

 

I've been dying to see this movie, and since we've had a week full of rainy days and nights - it finally happened. I suppose I've had a certain fascination with her, much like most of the world. I remember having this poster on my wall when I attended my freshman year of college at Florida State University:

This film wasn't Marilyn Monroe playing a character, necessarily, it was about Marilyn herself. You were able to see her vulnerable side, that was a far cry from her bombshell image. Marilyn - or Norma Jean, as she was known as a child - wasn't given a loving family life, which explains the horrible insecurity that plagued her life and career. This film chronicles the week that Colin Clark spent as a gofer on the set of The Prince and the Showgirl  - a film starring Sir Laurence Olivier and Marilyn Monroe. Marilyn's insecurity about her acting skills amongst the great talent on the film, caused her to be a production nightmare. She could sense Colin's honesty, and once her new husband, Arthur Miller, left the set to go to Paris - a move that caused her great unrest - Colin became the one person she trusted. What's evident from this film is her true fragility. Her image as Marilyn Monroe was bigger than she could handle - and when men wanted her because of the image and not the shy, insecure woman she truly was - it became easy for others to control her through drugs and alcohol. I enjoyed this film - and Michelle Williams did an incredible job at portraying both the bombshell and her incredibly insecure, vulnerable side.

Annie Lebovitz for Vogue MagazineI'm now rather interested in seeing the movie that this film was about, simply because I now know what was occurring behind the scenes at the time. My squeal-of-delight moment while watching this film occurred upon seeing "Mr. Carson" from Downton Abbey (actor Jim Carter) in a small role. It's the little things.