MovieChat Forums > My Week with Marilyn (2011) Discussion > MW is a TERRIBLE MM

MW is a TERRIBLE MM

posted 11 years ago by PepperCat
10 replies | jump to latest

Awful.

And the thing is, with a movie about a woman who was famous her looks above everything else, it would be nice to have her portrayed by someone who at least looks remotely like her.

Oh, and I don't believe a word of the script. That Colin guy probably spoke to her once or something.

[–] ChristianWoolf 11 years ago

I think Michelle Williams was too good as a human being and as an actress to play MM, that's right. She should have played Audrey Hepburn. It doesn't matter she was not her twin sister, what it matters that she gave life to that character. What's the point of casting someone who looks like MM but who is not able to give life to the character?

"The most important thing is to enjoy your life - to be happy - it's all that matters." (A.H)

[–] Bisousbaby 10 years ago

Michelle Williams did not give it life, she was nothing like Marilyn, she didn't even bother with the mannerisms, I mean that's just lazy!

[–] ChristianWoolf 10 years ago

I don't think we have watched the same movie.

"The most important thing is to enjoy your life - to be happy - it's all that matters." (A.H)

[–] vicky_lc2001-1 9 years ago

She had the mannerisms, facial expressions, voice and innocence down pat.

Global Warming, it's a personal decision innit? - Nigel Tufnel

[–] angel110 9 years ago

Yes #lazy indeed! I thought she was horrible too portraying Marilyn Monroe ... I really didn't see any similarities and I've been asked to do retro looks myself in the entertainment industry. And it is like she didn't even try with the hair or make up . Because obviously it's really hard to pull off a look like that and we're talking top make up artist and hairdresser's to pull off that look takes a lot of effort from a team. And it's like she played Maryland like she was incredibly stupid and retarded and then didn't really even bother with the look or wardrobe. To me it looks like she didn't like Marylan that much and this was a way she thought she could do her in by thinking this might be the last memory people will have lodged in their mind . And she wanted to leave it so that people didn't respect Marylan

[–] lachancejeanphilippe 9 years ago

Are you serious? We can see switching from being the movie Star in front of the camera to the vulnerable one in her intimacy

[–] MydnightRose 9 years ago

I just can't get passed how she looks in the movie. I am usually not distracted by the actress not looking like Marilyn but with MW I am vet distracted. I also wish she had gained some weight to have more of her body.

Amy Adams: too plain to be Lois Lane

[–] EJverh 10 years ago

Taking on such a famous known actress is incredibly challenging and while I agree that Williams doesnt look much like MM she totally inhabited that character. The opinions about such performances are always split when many concentrate only on appearance. The same was the case with Blanchett's performance of Katharine Hepburn which I, as a Hepburn junkie, actually consider a brilliant job and a well deserved Oscar win for Cate.

[–] conductor71 10 years ago

"...while I agree that Williams doesnt look much like MM she totally inhabited that character."

I agree with your comments here, EJverh. For me, Michelle really caught the essence of Marilyn, or at least what many of us would like to believe Marilyn was, because very few of us can say that we actually knew her personally, more than half a century after her death. Perhaps it is more about trying to satisfy the public's perception of Marilyn as it has evolved over time, reinventing the icon for the approval of today's cinema audiences but nevertheless still trying to get inside her head and under her skin.

I've watched the film twice now and I just love those scenes of her joyful, playful innocence as she spends a wonderful day with Colin, gambolling and giggling in a field, playing Marilyn the movie star when she meets her adoring fans at Windsor Castle and Eton, followed by her brazen skinnydip in the river, then the sudden darkening of the mood as the couple realise that such a glorious day, like all other days, finally has to come to an end. The car journey home with the sound of Nat King Cole heavy in the air- just a perfect day, surely!

Did it really happen like that? I can't say, but I would like to think that it did. Maybe those few hours spent with Colin were amongst the happiest in her tragically short and unhappy life. Even if it didn't happen like that, the film has created its own lasting magic and the effervescence of the spirit of Marilyn seems to radiate from every bone in Michelle's body. It's just so touching.

For those on this thread who don't agree, surely there is no actress alive who would make the ideal Marilyn anyway, least of all Michelle Williams? After all, the way Marilyn walked, talked, posed, flirted were all totally unique to Marilyn, who was a product of her times. Many actresses have merely tried to imitate to the nth degree Marilyn's universally-recognised appearance and mannerisms but these attempts only seem to emphasise the phoniness of it all compared to the real thing. Like all of them, Michelle wasn't born for this role but she's created something much more solid than just another one-dimensional attempt at a Marilyn impersonation.

[–] Thornspike 10 years ago

Well said, and on Valentine's Day no less!