***
DVD Release/Currently available
on BBC iPlayer
In 1956, Marilyn Monroe came to
England to film The Prince and the
Showgirl. Working as an assistant to director Laurence Olivier, Colin Clark
documents the frantic and strained filming process, all the time becoming more
embroiled in the life of the infamous starlet, Monroe.
The first criticism of the film
is that it seems to be weighed down by the wealth of stars in the cast list –
there is certainly no shortage of British acting talent on display here, with
Kenneth Branagh heading the team as Laurence Olivier. Supporting him, in roles
of various sizes, are, amongst others, Eddie Redmayne (Colin Clark), Judi
Dench, Emma Watson, Zöe Wanamaker, Dominic Cooper, Toby Jones, Jim Carter et
al. The list just goes on and on forever! Some of the roles, however, are
literally so minute that anyone could have played them, and it feels as though
director Simon Curtis gathered together such an ensemble to distract the viewer
from what is an essentially average film by having them go ‘Oh, look – it’s
so-and-so’. Branagh is excellent as Olivier, playing him as the old-fashioned
actor-cum-director who wants to make a hit film, only to be scuppered at every
turn by his leading lady. In moments of exasperation, he reels off lines of
Shakespeare, but Branagh also offers an insight into a man completely aware of
his journey into old age and how he is not the irresistible young man he once
was, a position taken up instead by Redmayne’s Colin Clark. Redmayne has only
one facial expression for the duration of the film: lips, slightly open and
ever so slightly curved upwards in faint smile; eyes, big and watery; and eyebrows
that are constantly raised. It is hard to decide whether his character is
creepy or just plain uneducated about women and the act of wooing (most likely
the latter) and there is even a moment when he reaches for Lucy’s (Emma Watson)
breast, reassuring her with the dubious line of ‘I really like you’, later accompanied
by ‘I really do like you’.
The film jumps all over the place
in rather a dramatic manner – some of the scenes are incredibly short and the
opening twenty minutes are a little disorientating with regards to how fast we
move from one location to another. This sense of never standing still remains
throughout the film – it feels as though the camera does not know what to focus
on, and this is mirrored in the central relationship between Clark and Monroe
(Michelle Williams). Williams does the best with, what feels like, a rather
confused and light-hearted approach to the real-life tragedy that was her life.
At times the film feels as though it will delve into the darker side of her
existence, like her constant harassment by the public and press, as well as her
apparent mental health issues, but then it draws away again. There are moments
of tenderness between Redmayne and Williams, but it is somewhat hard not to
find both of them rather irritating.
Overall, not a bad film, but
simply rather average – it touches upon some interesting issues, only to then
cast them aside. All the performances are good, with Williams and Branagh
holding the extensive and rather unnecessary cast together, but it suffers from
a weak script and lack of character development.
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