Chichester Cinema at New Park
My Week with Marilyn
Colin Clark, an employee of Sir Laurence Olivier's, documents the tense interaction between Olivier and Marilyn Monroe during production of ‘The Prince and the Showgirl’.
In the early summer of 1956, 23 year-old Colin Clark (Eddie Redmayne), just down from Oxford and determined to make his way in the film business, worked as a lowly assistant on the set of ‘The Prince and the Showgirl’, the film that famously united Sir Laurence Olivier (Kenneth Branagh) and Marilyn Monroe (Michelle Williams), who was also on honeymoon with her new husband, the playwright Arthur Miller (Douglas Scott).
When Arthur Miller leaves England, the coast is clear for Colin to introduce Marilyn to some of the pleasures of British life; an idyllic week in which he escorted a Monroe desperate to get away from her retinue of Hollywood hangers-on and the pressures of work. Kenneth Branagh is there to spice up many of his scenes, bringing on almost lovable smugness to his performance as Olivier.
On hand are great supporting turns from Judi Dench (Sybil Thorndike), Emma Watson, Toby Jones, Dominic Cooper, Julia Ormond (Vivien Leigh), Derek Jacobi, Zoe Wananmaker. But the true star of the film is Michelle Williams, who embodies Monroe magnificently.
NB- We present a one off screening of ‘The Prince and the Showgirl’ to support this film, which will be shown on Mon 19 Dec 20.30.
UK · 2011 · Simon Curtis · 105min
