Norma Jean & Marilyn

As a huge fan of Marilyn Monroe, I was excited to see this movie. Mira Sorvino did a pretty good job portraying her, as did Ashley Judd. The story was just very dark, it shows Marilyn's abuse physically and sexually. She has also been abused emotionally by producers and directors. Although the story is very good, it is just very dark.

This film used a bit of gimmick casting; having one actress play the young and hungry starlet Norma Jean, and another playing 'Marilyn; after she had achieved fame and wealth. Add to that Marianne Davis, who plays Norma Jean when she was a frightened young girl being moved from place to place.

The movie is not entirely successful, because Sorvino plays Marilyn as her flighty image of the films rather than a logical continuation of the Norma Jean persona, making her death occur with a whimper rather than a grand crash. But it is very definitely worthwhile for seeing Ashley Judd play Norma Jean to the hilt as a woman whose delicate features overlay a soul of chromium steel, determined never to repeat the humiliations of her girlhood. It was an entirely different angle on Norma Jean/Marilyn to see her arrive late (!) for an audition and blithely push her way past other starlets to catch the attention of the producer; or watch her, in a fantasy sequence, run over her former hapless self in a car. I was sorry when 'Norma Jean's half' of the movie was over, and pleased to see her return briefly at the end.

Well, being a big fan of Marilyn Monroe, and her life, I have to say this movie was not very good, and was a poor depiction of Marilyn's life. It seems that every other scene they did something wrong. I'm not picky, but facts are facts. First off, the way they had her die was completely and totally wrong. Second, they portrayed her as a dits who felt sorry for herself all the time. It wasn't like that. While she did have her share of problems, it wasn't as foolish as they made it out to be. I wouldn't rent this.

For years, the 1996 HBO movie NORMA JEAN AND MARILYN has been maligned and skewered by critics and viewers alike because it was not an accurate biography of Marilyn Monroe. Frankly, if you're looking for an accurate film biography of Marilyn Monroe, there is no such animal (though the ABC-TV movie with Catherine Hicks is pretty close). NORMA JEAN AND MARILYN is not supposed to be a biography of Marilyn. So much has been written about Marilyn over the past 50 years, how can there be anything that people don't know at this point? That's why this movie took a different tack and presented a probing psychological drama that speculates about the inner demons that tormented Marilyn from her childhood as Norma Jean throughout her adult life as Marilyn. Ashley Judd lights up the screen as a young Norma Jean, the young woman determined to forget a loveless marriage to Jim Dougherty and carve out a career for herself as a movie star, even if she has to sleep her way to the top to do it. Norma Jean makes no bones about what she wants, even if it means using and abusing good friend Eddie Jordan (Josh Charles)to get to his famous uncle as an "in" to the Hollywood crowd. The screenplay splices together fantasies and inner dialogues with some actual events in Norma Jean's life in order to give us a look into Marilyn's psyche. Once Norma Jean gets signed to Fox and she changes her name to Marilyn Monroe, Mira Sorvino takes over the role in an uncanny reincarnation of the screen's greatest sex symbol. Sorvino is warm and heartbreaking as Marilyn, recreating some of Marilyn's greatest on screen moments with frightening accuracy while at the same time beautifully conveying the decay of Marilyn's mind, thanks to booze, pills, men, and the treatment she received from studio heads, acting coaches, and others who tried to help her. What makes this film unique and indicates that it is not just a typical biopic is that after Sorvino takes over the role, Ashley Judd still appears as the inner Norma Jean, coaching and encouraging Marilyn to do the right thing and ridiculing her when she does the wrong thing. This movie is an examination of the inner Marilyn who lived in constant mental anguish and was never satisfied with anything she ever did or any relationship she had. The movie is well-written with flashbacks and flash forwards that require close attention in order to stay with the story but it is well worth it. Sorvino and Judd receive solid support from David Dukes as Arthur Miller, Peter Dobsono as Joe DiMaggio, Ron Rifkin as Johnny Hyde, and Lindsay Crouse as Natasha, Marilyn's acting coach who, according to this film,was in love with her. This is a haunting and disturbing film that will not answer all your questions about her, but might help you to understand what a tormented soul she was. If you're looking for a biography of Marilyn, go to a library and check out a book on Marilyn. If you're looking for a unique film experience about a side of Marilyn we rarely saw, then give NORMA JEAN AND MARILYN a look.

I saw this movie when it first premiered back in 1996 and I saw it again last night. I think that it's a good movie overall. Very good concept, screen-writing, and acting, but I don't even worry about the accuracy, because a lot of times in these type of "biographical" movies, theres always gonna be something different to it, especially when most of the people aren't alive to comfirm what is true and what's isn't.

I found this movie to be very interesting more than anything else and times it seemed very depressing; was Marilyn that sad? Ashley Judd is very impressive in this movie and her portrayal of Norma Jean's involvment in Marilyn's then-current life, is one of the reasons that makes this movie so interesting. Mira Sorvino was also very impressive, but I believe that the only fault in Sorvino's performance was that the writter's seemed to portray Marilyn as a dumb blonde, when I believe Marilyn was not even close to that. Sometimes it did seem kind of disrespectful, but I don't think that they really meant any harm by it, but they should've known. Don't go watching this film expecting accuracy, I think that's what too many people are expecting. Go to this film expecting to hear a possible side to this woman's life, not for the absolute and complete truth, cause you will not get it from this film. The only place you can get the truth is from the late Marilyn herself.