Love, Marilyn (2012)
Average Rating: 6.5/10
Reviews Counted: 16
Fresh: 9 | Rotten: 7
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: 6/10
Critic Reviews: 11
Fresh: 5 | Rotten: 6
No consensus yet.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.2/5
User Ratings: 94
Movie Info
Based on the recent book, Fragments: Poems, Intimate Notes, Letters, edited by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, October 2010, Fragments: Marilyn Monroe, explores the unknown side of Monroe "a deeply curious artist, a savvy businessperson" and challenges the long-held misperception of Marilyn as the dumb blonde archetype. Alongside interviews with experts and former acquaintances, A-list actors read from Marilyn's own writings, bringing her words to a contemporary audience for the first time. (c) Moxie
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All Critics (16) | Top Critics (11) | Fresh (9) | Rotten (7)
Remove the comma from the title and Love, Marilyn plays like the command it is.
Do any fresh revelations or insights remain, a half century past Monroe's overdose death at age 36?
A heartfelt and well-intentioned love letter to an already deeply beloved star, and for anyone who's still not convinced, the picture works hard to make the case for Monroe's gifts as an actress.
Monroe's vulnerability and sense of inadequacy, her frustration and solitude, come through poignantly.
It was a mistake to ask anyone to dramatically read a chicken recipe Monroe prepared for Joe DiMaggio (one of her husbands), or some of the other scribbles included here.
The intelligence and dynamism of Ms. Garbus's approach could hardly fail to make you appreciate Monroe's growth as an actor.
Garbus is able to re-stitch Monroe's life in a most compelling and original manner.
By the end of the film, we learn just about everything about Monroe was self-created, which somehow makes the eventual self-destruction a little more understandable, and her life story a cautionary meditation on the booby-traps of celebrity.
The monologues are like exercises from the star's beloved Actors Studio, performances of emotional facets. For the most part these are effectively stark, tender, childlike and raw.
Garbus' use of Monroe's own words are plenty wrenching at times but they don't add much to our collective understanding of either the enduring myth or the truth about the damaged woman who existed behind that sexpot façade.
Say and film what you like about her, even in this somewhat wrongheaded if worshipful film portrait, Marilyn Monroe still triumphs just by being herself.
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Top Critic
Such an amazing and wonderful piece of filmmaking art.
Love, Marilyn, I give you a 90%.