My Week with Marilyn

I never really got why Marilyn Monroe was considered the greatest sex symbol of all time. Beautiful, yes, but not classically. She was rounder and thicker than the typical Hollywood standard of the day and certainly she wasn't the impossibly slim waif that is the measure of modern sex appeal. And her sexual celebrity was in fact a male fantasy, as opposed to today where woman (or sometimes girls) are more of a determining factor in selecting the "it" chick. (The Kardashians are creatures born of a woman's sensibility-and un-sexier sex symbols there have never been) But Marilyn was different. Hell, she remains different. She is to this day the gold standard of sex appeal. But I never really saw it that way.
A new film "My Week with Marilyn", based on a supposedly true story, shed a bit more light on this for me. Here's how the story goes:
Our young protagonist, Colin Clark, 23 years old,(played by a perfectly cast Eddie Redmayne), a bit naive but really more ambitious, becomes the assistant to Lawrence Olivier in 1956, just when Olivier is about to shoot "The Prince and the Showgirl". Olivier is to star and direct the film and has hired Marilyn Monroe, just coming into the height of her popularity, to co-star with him.
She is newly married to Arthur Miller and shows up in England a vulnerable mess. She is accompanied by an entourage that includes Miller and acting coach Paula Strasberg (Lee's wife) whose job it is to keep the fragile star on an even emotional keel and whisper acting advise in her ear. But Marilyn is a mess, intimidated and full of self doubt, and absolutely driving Olivier to distraction. It becomes Colin's job to get Marilyn to work and over the course of the shoot they become pals and confidants, both inside and outside of the bedroom. So much for the plot.
This film is a character study and Michelle Williams has done her homework. She inhabits and reveals Marilyn completely, revealing her as fun, fragile, savvy if not really smart, insecure, and manipulative. Now other films or books may have given us pieces of all of these traits but under Ms. Williams, they fuse into something more complete. At one point Marilyn and young Colin are on a day trip to an English estate. Coming down a stairwell, they are met by a small mob of castle staff. Marilyn turns to Colin and says "Shall I be her?" and then goes through a series of sexy poses, blowing kisses to the crowd. Well, ya gotta give the people what they want.
I was even more fascinated by Kenneth Branagh's turn as Laurence Olivier. Vain and brilliant, his fascination with Marilyn and rage against her unprofessional work habits are the central conflict of the film. He doesn't approve of this "method" thing that all the Americans are involved with. Larry is a "show up on time, know your lines, don't bump into the furniture" type of actor. Marilyn clearly is not. Olivier rages but recognizes that Marilyn really does have something special on screen. The best insight in the script for me was the line about Olivier being a great actor who wanted to be a movie star while Marilyn was a movie star who wanted to be a great actress. It was a joy watch Branagh bring Olivier to life.
"My Week with Marilyn" has some flaws as a film but the cast wins you over. You'll see more than one at Oscar time, I think. Judi Dench, Zoe Wanamaker, Julia Ormand (as Vivien Leigh)and even our young heroine from Harry Potter Emma Watson give wonderful supporting turns.
In the end, I loved this film despite its shortcomings. It was engaging, sexy and fascinating, flaws be damned. Hmmm...that's kind of what people must have felt about Marilyn Monroe.