MovieChat Forums > My Week with Marilyn (2011) Discussion > Hatchet Job On The Great Olivier

Hatchet Job On The Great Olivier

posted 13 years ago by at7000
9 replies | jump to latest

This film is a total disgrace. First off, they mis-cast the pudgy, clumsy, short, Branagh, to play the tall, elegant, svelte Olivier. Second off, they try to turn the compassionate, patient, kind, Olivier, into a cruel sadist, hell bent on mistreating people, especially Marilyn.

This film has an agenda, to make Olivier look mean and bad. This is a sad joke of a film. Olivier was a kind person and consummate actor. They tried to turn him into a Josef Stalin. And they also made him fat, chubby, and pudgy, which he never was in real life.

[–] chrismartonuk-1 13 years ago

Olivier probably was a kindly person in everyday life, but a director has to be a tyrant to a certain degree on set, since he has production money to worry about and, if he runs over-budget, he'll be off the project. He has to direct a casr of competing egos who probably think their ideas are better than his. Patrick Troughton mentioned that Olivier could be a stern taskmaster when he directed him in Richard III and Hamlet. Directing the drugged-up, wooly-headed Marilyn would have tried the patience of a saint, and Olivier has admitted his problems with her. He never directed another film after this one. Presumably, he had had enough. Even Billy Wilder was put through the wringer by Marilyn.

[–] otter 13 years ago

Goodness, what film were you watching? Because in "My Week With Marilyn", Olivier is shown as briskly professional, ready to do a fine job and innocently believing his co-workers would intend to do the same. Of course Marilyn seemed to think professionalism was a personal insult, or a form of abuse.

I enjoyed Brannaugh in the role, in spite of the fact that he looks nothing like Olivier. He got the voice down, and made Olivier's exasperation with Marilyn's unprofessionalism funny and sympathetic.

If we're going to die, let's die looking like a Peruvian folk band!

[–] NorthstarX 12 years ago

I wouldn't say anything about his portrayal came across "innocently" (especially when he forced Marilyn to apologize to Sybil who seemed more more put off by his behavior than hers) but given Marilyn's lack of professionalism, I don't feel he was a "sadist" at all. Her behavior would test the patience of a saint!

There was one moment in the movie in which I thought he kept his patience rather well. Right before he forces Marilyn to apologize to Sybil, Marilyn's snooty handler says that Marilyn "had to prepare." I felt it would have been entirely appropriate for Oliver to snap at her pointing out that everyone else was prepared a long time ago and if it takes Marilyn so long to prepare, she needs to start preparing earlier than everyone else.

I think in some ways he made things a bit more difficult than they needed to be but his behavior was almost always completely reasonable. Even Jesus would have had a hard time tolerating Marilyn! LOL

[–] sirjeremy 13 years ago

Compared to the book, I think Olivier comes off quite well.

[–] Garfieldthakat 13 years ago

Maybe this is ignorance on my part,, but I've NEVER understood what is Branagh's reasoning in trying to follow Olivier so closely (Henry V, actually acting as Olivier, etc.). He's not Olivier. I certainly don't mean Branagh is a bad actor, but I think I remember reading he was trying to position himself as heir to Olivier, when he's...not.

I'm not sure Olivier was kind and compassionate: even the official biography authorized by the family portrayed him as being ruthless and cruel at times. I do think it seems the movie wants to make him a villain to help make Monroe look better. I'm surprised they downplayed Vivien Leigh so much--supposedly she was jealous that Monroe was playing the part on screen that Leigh had created on stage.

The film is pretty tedious. It just kinda drags on. No offense to Michelle Williams, but this was a bit of a crappy choice of a project.

[–] wylierichardson-966-922691 9 years ago

But few other actors of modern times have gotten the kind of traction Branagh has, in terms of playing the same Shakespearean roles that Olivier did. If you want to suggest someone else as being the rightful heir to Olivier, you are welcome to try, of course.

[–] ashby1 13 years ago

YIKES at7000 !! Got much of an agenda?
And by the way: Laurence Olivier 5' 10" Kenneth Branagh 5' 9 1/2"
To bad when facts get in the way

[–] Gwasgray 10 years ago

It's not exactly a "hatchet job" but it doesn't portray him in a very flattering light, for one thing was he really in the habit of shouting f-words in front of everyone? I probably sound like a prude here, but I would have thought he'd be a bit more refined.

[–] landix 10 years ago

There is a great biography of Olivier where he indeed uses the f-word a lot . Most people working in the theatre swear a lot - I do myself having worked in it for 40 years & used to forget in the old days that those outside the profession weren't so robust !!