Michelle Williams Shines In My Week With Marilyn Blu-Ray

I don’t know about you, but the whole time I watched Dawson’s Creek, I never thought the girl next door would go on to receive three Oscar nominations by the time she was 31. Not that there was anything wrong with Dawson’s Creek. At least, Season 1. I’m pretty sure I jumped off after that one.

I digress.

While the show’s other leads (James Van Der Beek, Katie Holmes and Joshua Jackson) have gone on to other roles and varrying degrees of success, Michelle Williams has become one of the most sought after, gifted actresses of her generation. I would never have thought the girl next door would be able to portray one of the most beloved superstars of all time, but Williams is utterly awesome as Marilyn Monroe in My Week With Marilyn, which is out on DVD/Blu-Ray today.

My Week With Marilyn is the autobiographical story of Colin Clark (Eddie Redmayne), who spent a week escorting Marilyn Monroe around London while she was there filming The Prince and the Showgirl, staring Monroe (Michelle Williams) and Laurence Olivier (Kenneth Branagh). During the time, the younger Clark develops an emotional romance with Marilyn, who views him as both plaything and confidante.

The film is full of stellar performances from all of the players, including Branagh, who himself was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor for his role as Olivier. But as wonderful as everyone is, My Week With Marilyn really does belong to Michelle Williams. One moment she’s as devastatingly sexy as Monroe must have been in her time, the next she’s simply devastating when she pulls the cover off the star to expose the woman hoping to be loved and accepted by those around her. It’s simply incredible how good Williams is, and she certainly deserved all the accolades she received for her performance, including the Oscar nomination and he Golden Globe for Best Actress.

While My Week With Marilyn is a showcase for Michelle Williams, I think it also serves as a reminder of just how potent a celebrity Marilyn Monroe was in her time. These days we’re inundated by celeb culture, TMZ and cell phone cameras capturing virtually every minute of a star’s life. But Monroe was the first to really receive that sort of attention, and the film, as directed by Simon Curtis, captures what she was going through vividly.

A compelling and entertaining story, with one of the best performances of this year, or this decade so far, My Week With Marilyn offers a few quality hours with the amazing Michelle Williams. She’s come a long way from Capeside.