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On Movies: Film gives glimpses and insights into troubled movie queen

This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Nov. 29, 2011 - Michelle Williams ("Brokeback Mountain," "Blue Valentine"), whose intensely personal film performances continue to astonish, was a wonderful choice to play Marilyn Monroe in "My Week With Marilyn." Moving in an instant from playful sexuality to disabling despair, she gives one of the best performances of the year in this enjoyably sentimental film.

"My Week with Marilyn" is loosely based on the memoirs of a young man who was befriended by Monroe during a 1956 shoot in England of "The Prince and the Showgirl." That period comedy was directed by and co-starred the imperious Sir Laurence Olivier, played by Kenneth Branagh in the new movie.

In the first half of the film, as Monroe infuriates the classically trained Olivier by continually showing up hours late, flubbing her lines and then retreating sobbing into the arms of her American Method-acting coach, director Simon Curtis tantalizes us with disappointingly brief glimpses into the soul of the famously troubled movie queen. Then comes a moment of epiphany, and we realize that Curtis knew exactly what he was doing by only hinting at the depths of Williams' commitment to the role. He -- and she -- make us want more, and then, eventually, they give it to us.

Monroe, like Tennessee Williams, apparently depended on the kindness of strangers, and in the summer of 1956, far from home, she chose to bond with a 23-year-old movie-company gofer named Colin Clark (Eddie Redmayne). Clark had family connections, and he managed to book a private tour of Windsor Castle for himself and Monroe. In the film, as they are descending a flight of stairs, a dozen members of the palace staff standing below them break into applause.

Monroe smiles and asks Colin, "Shall I be her?"

She answers her own question by moving to the side of the stair, turning sideways and putting her hand on her jutting hip, in the style of the pin-up queen she most definitely was. She sways into several more sexy poses, bathing in the gaze of the small but enthusiastic audience. The scene reveals something crucial to understanding Monroe, at least the one portrayed in this movie -- "Marilyn Monroe" was a role she was playing, and she clearly loved playing it, when she didn't hate or fear all it entailed.

The movie continues to mix passion with pathos and includes a cautiously revealing nude-swimming scene that seems dramatically inevitable, even if it apparently didn't happen. On the whole, even though it deals at times with Monroe's depression and dependence on drugs, the movie has an appealing light-hearted sweetness.

Make that light-hearted bittersweetness. Part of the magic of Monroe, and it is captured well by Michelle Williams, was that there always seemed to be a hint of sadness about her, even when she was dazzling us with her beauty, or making us laugh.

Harper Barnes, the author of Never Been A Time: The 1917 Race Riot That Sparked The Civil Rights Movement, is a special contributor to the Beacon.