My Week with Marilyn (2011) dir. Simon Curtis

Charlie Myer | he/him

3.5/5 STARS

We’ve all seen an actress make mistakes. The best actresses are able to ignore or incorporate these mistakes into their act, however, the opposite is shown in My Week with Marilyn (2011) when Marilyn Monroe first begins her acting career.

Played by Michelle Williams, Marilyn is a picture of charm and exquisite beauty. The camera shows every photographer and flash, cutting back to her smiling face. Marilyn adores the limelight with every validating comment of admiration and intrigue.

Burnout is a chameleon. It can take many different shapes and appear invisible to others. In My Week with Marilyn, Marilyn isn’t a sex-obsessed pin-up icon, she’s a real person who so desperately needs support that she never receives. Fame was the only way she was given the support she needed, and even then, it was directed towards a mere idea of her. Fame motivates her, but work burns her out.

Often, it is normal for actors to be on set for over 10 hours a day, and sometimes extending to 16 hours. This can go on for weeks or months on end. Actors get tired because it isn’t a 9 to 5 job, your fame follows you wherever you go.

Fame is a farce—we all know it to be true. When Marilyn goes shopping, she becomes swamped with admirers, enjoying it until she doesn’t. I don’t mean to be sympathetic towards celebrities because I can hardly do so when the same capitalism that ‘poisons’ them is the kind that forces families into endless poverty. This, however, doesn’t make actors’ pain less real. Burnout can be found in any workplace—whether it be an office, factory, or studio.

A 2017 study about the wellbeing of student actors found that “excessive, sustained workloads have been shown to negatively impact on [psychological well-being], with almost every system in the human body affected by the resulting chronic stress… In order to cope with chronic stress, participants described substance use… as a coping strategy” (Robb & Due, 2017). These people are being pushed to their absolute limit, both physically, mentally, and emotionally.

The real Marilyn struggled with abandonment issues from her parents and time in an orphanage. This led to issues with finding consistent love and trust in relationships, and eventual drug dependency. Marilyn’s life was far from glamorous or shrouded in mystery, as she spoke about her issues openly.

In the film, these traumas are worsened by the pressure she finds on set. Marilyn constantly has to be reminded that she is ‘a great actress’ while also doubting her state of mind, “do you think I’m crazy?” 

Actors suffer greatly for their art in a way that shouldn’t be capitalised upon through performance. They should be given support for it, like any other stressful occupation.

My Week with Marilyn is an exposé about burnout in the film industry. It’s about the pain and pressure in the limelight. Actors deserve to be supported in more productive ways than bullying and self-medication. This cycle of self-criticism is not sustainable for the industry, or for these people’s state of mind. Burnout can’t be accepted as a part of work any longer, health is always more important than labour.

P.S: Yes, I know that Eddie Redmayne was the protagonist of this film but he’s a bitchboy whose film career confuses and haunts me.

Reference:

Alison E. Robb & Clemence Due (2017) Exploring psychological wellbeing in acting training: an Australian interview study, Theatre, Dance and Performance Training, 8:3, 297-316