The film itself is being received with respectful politeness. But its star, Michelle Williams, gets high marks from Variety:
But the film belongs to Williams, whose tour-de-force turn conflates three Marilyns: the lost, damaged little girl who seeks to escape others’ expectations and return to simpler childhood days; the sexy superstar who impishly poses with a wink in complicity with her public; and the actress playing a pre-scripted part. The genius of the performance lies in the way Williams stresses the interconnectedness of these personalities: The neediness fuels the impudence, the vulnerability turns sexually provocative, and the little girl and sexpot together drive the screen role.
Thesp even ventures into saucy singing and dancing a la Marilyn in the pic’s opening and closing numbers.
And the Hollywood Reporter:
The luminous Michelle Williams gives a layered performance that goes beyond impersonation in My Week With Marilyn. Playing both the damaged, insecure woman and the sensual celebrity construct, as well as the role with which Marilyn Monroe was struggling during a particularly difficult shoot, Williams gets us on intimate terms with one of Hollywood’s most enduring and tragic icons. If much of what surrounds her in Simon Curtis’ biographical drama is less nuanced, her work alone keeps the movie entertaining.
Beyond that, I keep hearing tweets that say “My Week with Marilyn” is this year’s “King’s Speech.” And the answer to that is, no it’s not. When people say that they might be forgetting that the King’s Speech was an Oscar juggernaut. This doesn’t feel like that movie. Apparently there is a screening for the film here in LA but Awards Daily was not invited. We like to publicly pout about such things.