My Week With Marilyn
Michelle Williams makes Marilyn Monroe "come alive" in this film based on the books by Colin Clark, who worked with Monroe on one of her films.
Directed by Simon Curtis
(R)
“If My Week With Marilyn seems like a slight film, a barely disguised awards vehicle” for star Michelle Williams, “that’s probably because it is,” said Bill Goodykoontz in The Arizona Republic. But Williams’s portrayal of the midcareer Marilyn Monroe is “so engaging and complete” that it makes up for the movie’s shortcomings. The story is based on two disputed memoirs by Colin Clark, who claimed to have forged a brief but intense friendship with Monroe while serving as the third assistant director on one of her films. That source material creates major problems, said Manohla Dargis in The New York Times. While better books portray Monroe as the complex woman she was, Clark peddled in Marilyn stereotypes: “child, woman, smiling exhibitionist, shrieking neurotic,” and “martyr teetering in heels toward her doom.” Even so, Williams’s portrayal “makes the star come alive,” said David Denby in The New Yorker. While she’s not as voluptuous as Monroe, Williams has the “walk, the easy, swiveling neck,” and, most importantly, “the sexual sweetness and the hurt, lost look that shifts, in a flash, into resistance and tears.”
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Why are student loan borrowers falling behind on payments?
Today's Big Question Delinquencies surge as the Trump administration upends the program
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
Not there yet: The frustrations of the pocket AI
Feature Apple rushes to roll out its ‘Apple Intelligence’ features but fails to deliver on promises
By The Week US Published
-
George Foreman: The boxing champ who reinvented home grills
Feature He helped define boxing’s golden era
By The Week US Published