Quartile rating: 6.5/10 · 1 rating
London, 1956. Genius actor and film director Laurence Olivier is about to begin the shooting of his upcoming movie, premiered in 1957 as The Prince and the Showgirl, starring Marilyn Monroe. Young Colin Clark, who dreams on having a career in movie business, manages to get a job on the set as third assistant director.
My Week with Marilyn is elevated almost entirely by Michelle Williams's extraordinary, Oscar-nominated performance as Monroe, capturing her vulnerability, magnetism, and fragility with uncanny precision. Kenneth Branagh as Olivier is equally strong. The cinematography is competent and period-appropriate but unremarkable. The plot, however, is thin and episodic — Colin Clark's infatuation provides a serviceable framing device but little dramatic momentum or depth. The film's novelty lies in its insider 1950s film-set perspective and the fascinating real-life pairing of Olivier and Monroe, though the approach is fairly conventional biopic territory. The ending deflates rather than resonates, with Colin's farewell feeling slight and emotionally undercooked given the intimacy the film has tried to build.