The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe

This is a rather shoddy production that at times seems outright exploitation. Kelli Garner is not much of an actress, looks nothing like Monroe, and does a terrible imitation of her iconic voice. Susan Sarandon is surprisingly bad in the role of her mentally ill mother and it's some of the worst work she has ever done. The other actors do what is required of them and while this is all interesting at times, overall it isn't very enlightening. The standout in all of this is Emily Watson as Marilyn's aunt. As is often the case, Watson rises above a travesty and walks out of the ruins with her head held high. Wells she might for she not only gives a superb performance but brings a touch of real class to the proceedings. She gives her part a depth and humanity that's absent in the other characters that populate this film. For her moving and beautiful portrayal alone this lackluster mess is awarded 6 additional stars to the 2 it deserves on its own merits.

You might dismiss The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe, thinking it is just another biopic and Hollywood has certainly made enough of them. However, as someone who has seen nearly all of the representations, I urge you to reconsider. I watched this miniseries on the big screen, not a small television set. I was able to see every detail projected onto the width of the room's wall, so any flaw, dissimilarity, or wrong movement of Kelli Garner would be completely noticeable. She was perfect. I kept grabbing my mom's arm across the theater seat, exclaiming, "It's her!" Miss Garner looks so completely like Marilyn, from the minutest movement of her eyebrows, to the slight downturn of her mouth before she smiles. Any girl can imitate Marilyn's walk, but it takes a true talent to recreate the way she sighed. From her teen years as Norma Jean, to the excruciating detail of her Marilyn mannerisms, from her private dramatics with her mother, to her terror at being institutionalized herself, it is an absolute crime Garner wasn't nominated for a single award. She should have swept the season. Had this movie been released prior to My Week with Marilyn, Michelle Williams's showstopper would have never gotten off the ground. I thought Michelle had the market cornered, but now I've seen the very best there is. Michelle took the angle of "Marilyn knows exactly what she's doing" (which was wonderful), but Kelli plays the victim. She's been victimized and manipulated her entire life, and from start to finish, all she ever wanted was to be loved. If you watch Kelli's performance first, you'll probably hate what Michelle did to the 1950s icon. Kelli is vulnerable and tragic, and she breaks your heart.

The format of the story is Marilyn with a new psychiatrist, played by Jack Noseworthy. Although a cutie, Jack's character is a terrible therapist! He poses unrealistic questions and lets his face show everything he's thinking - taboo for psychiatrists. However, for television audiences, if he removed the twinkle from his eye and stopped smiling, his scenes would be far less enjoyable. The therapy sessions provide natural breaks in the story, so the present-day Marilyn can reflect on her past (and sometimes break for commercials). The miniseries has a great focus on Marilyn's insane mother, Gladys, played by Susan Sarandon. I've never seen her in such a creepy role, but she certainly did it well. There's a balance between the private moments of Marilyn and Gladys, and the public scenes biography fans are looking forward to. Iconic outfits are recreated for the ultimate Marilyn fan to enjoy, and her transition from Norma Jean is completed with exactly the right hair and makeup styles. We see all three of her marriages as well as friendships, romances, and "bargains" with more of the Hollywood crowd. Though Jeffrey Dean Morgan is infinitely more handsome than Joe DiMaggio, he does give both an endearing and frightening performance. Stephen Bogaert as Arthur Miller looks like he stepped out of a photograph. You'll also see Embeth Davidtz, Emily Watson, Peter MacNeill, Giacomo Gianniotti and Eva Amurri (Susan's real-life daughter playing the young Gladys!). If you're a fan, you owe it to Marilyn to watch this biopic. Of all the versions, I think she'd like this one the best.

Isn't getting any prominent roles. Someone explain this to me please. I read the book before I watched this, but even if I didn't, as an avid Marilyn Monroe fan, she has done her justice. It isn't the first time something like this has been done, but previous actresses were almost like caricatures - they would over do not only Marilyn's tone, but the way she moved her lips while speaking. It always ended up looking comedic, rather than real. This actress did it all, made u cry and feel sorry for Marilyn with only one look or movement, without any words - she played Marilyn's vulnerability with perfection.

I was glad that when plot involving the mental side of Marilyn the movie didn't include any wield scenes about mental hospitals. Some trivia about mental hospitals. Most of or even possibly all of the people admitted to a mental hospital smoke cigarettes. That to me should be a near secondary concern next to other health issues cigarettes have on the body but is ignored mostly by all the worldly public. Most mental people on a day to day basis cope with being there almost as well as any student in a regular school so on that level it's difficult to tell the difference between whatever intense crazy and normal. Mental drugs vary from intense effect with the thought of how did they ever get legal to others with very little or no effect all. A very popular approved mental drug with no effect is paliperidone, the most being a feeling of a gentler emotion, gentler more so with the injection style compared to the pill style and it costs $1800 to $2900 for a 90 day supply. Enough of that. I have the Marilyn movie on DVD transferred to PC hard drive. The first time I watched it non stop from beginning to end and I've sorta watched the beginning for a second time. The movie is entertaining and Kelly does a good job being Marilyn, her voice being very likable. Susan does a good good as her mother and she is a very believable mental patient. One goes away from the movie with a much greater understanding of Marilyn's private life. I'm glad I have the movie memory.

MM is a tough subject, clouded by 50 years of conjecture, misinformation and the subject's own spin and inconsistency.

That said, after 50 years of tireless reading and watching every foot of available film concerning MM, this is the first commentary worth viewing and rumination. There is something uncanny about Ms. Garner's portrayal and it matters little whether or not she looks like MM or not. No one will ever 'look' like Monroe anymore than anyone will 'look' like Abe Lincoln. She had the depth of character, the attitude, the walk and most importantly, the vocal cadence. Emily Watson and Susan Sarandon steal the show as they would wont to do in a project of this nature. However, Garner holds her own.

Robert Mitchum said it best about his friend and coworker when he said that Marilyn's biggest mistake was that she "burlesqued it", and burlesque was a slippery slope in Hollywood at that time. Monroe played burlesque so well, people believed it. Unfortunately MM was probably not equipped to withstand the foul misogyny that went along with post war attitudes toward any woman who was not properly corseted and house dressed, into submission.

If MM wouldn't have conjured the wherewithal to crack the studio system in 1950, she'd have ended up a depressed and divorced house wife in the Valley, with a mentally ill mother to support. For those of us who have dealt with mental illness in the family, this show is treading on new ground. That is the zeitgeist that Garner and Sarandon nail. MM was a fish out of water, which is the reason why we are all mesmerized to this day. For better or for worse she was her own woman, with no peer, before or since.

It is also worth mentioning that the costumes, makeup and set designs are spot on. The dreamy and disconcerting saturated colors and Noir lighting become good compliments to the spirit of the production and add good tension.

Kudos to Garner who did her homework and made this old MM aficionado squirm in his seat a few times, for all of the right reasons. DiMaggio probably said it best, by saying nothing and letting his actions do the talking.

Not perfect but well worth taking in, and a huge step forward from the usual Lifetime tripe.