My Week with Marilyn

Might have made a smashing short film, but stretched out to a hundred minutes it loses steam, rolls over, and nearly perishes.  The doll house scene is a real eye-roller. In fact once Eddie Redmayne "moves in" with Michelle Williams' Marilyn the film gets a bit dopey and overly-sentimental.  I liked Michelle Williams' performance (Renee was less impressed.)  And Kenneth Branagh  got to do his Sir Larry impersonation again.  (I bet all his friends are sick of that Party Piece.)

My favorite moment was a shot of Ms Williams looking out a set window just before she does a take.  But they did not hold the shot long enough.  I finally thought they had captured all the pain and torment behind that gorgeous face and then it was gone before it could completely be absorbed.

The best thing about the film is Nina Gold did the casting so I got to see all my favorite English actors in bit parts, including one guy, who I have not seen in anything since Dennis Potter's original, The Singing Detective.  (Hope he's been doing theatre all this time, ... )

By the by, speaking of Dennis Potter, when is Lipstick on Your Collar going to be released on dvd for the US market?

(And, Dominic Cooper, I still love you to pieces. And your American accent? It will get better. It took a  few films for Carey Mulligan, too.)



-- Ardent