MY WEEK WITH MARILYN

American starlet Marilyn Monroe and British stage virtuoso Laurence Olivier united for one film and this production is known as having been fraught by mutual self-doubt and disruptions caused by Monroe’s personal problems. My Week with Marilyn is based on the memoirs of Colin Clark, a 23-year-old member of the film crew, who claimed to have shared an intimate, though platonic, relationship with Monroe during production.

The film successfully manages emotionally volatile subject matter with a certain breeziness. It is at its best when Monroe, played with sensitivity by Michelle Williams, performs with trademark fragility and ethereality on set. The relationship between Colin (Eddie Redmayne) and Monroe is less convincing, with Colin not developing beyond an outward boyish charm. Kenneth Branagh may well have overplayed Olivier, but, nevertheless, his clipped, subtle intoning is highly entertaining. Dame Judi Dench is as brilliant as ever as an acting grande dame who is, by turns, condescending and motherly to Monroe. (CH) ***1/2