Hollywood is good at dreaming.
Hollywood in the 1950s was at its peak.
I rewatched "My Week with Monroe" yesterday, and it is still delicate and moving. The imagery implied by Hollywood seems to be the most delicate and cruel one in American culture.
Intertextualizing "My Week with Monroe" and "Sunset Boulevard", and even the recent episode "Hollywood", inevitably leads to new thinking. Perhaps, what the screenwriters have tried many times and the audience can't stop is the blurred part between ideal and reality. On that piece of graceful material called "dream", some people became crazy, some died in depression, some old monks entered meditation, and some people ran into the distance after testing.
What I appreciate most about "My Week with Monroe" is not the reality of the era it restores, the magic intertwined with history and fiction, but the emotional depth drawn from its minimal entry point. Telling this story from Colin Clark's perspective is not only a documentary from God's perspective, it becomes a multi-dimensional historical experience, an atypical filmmaker's peep into the industry before his career has officially started. A youth's growth education is a satire on the characterisation of the film industry, and a discussion of performance methods and concepts.
Of course, it's about unrequited love. About love is the connection of hearts and minds, and it is an existence that is pure enough to cross all identity barriers, catch people off guard, and exceed expectations. About how love becomes a part of the dream, and it is stripped out in the growth of people, leaving one piece in the bottom of my heart, and the other dissipates with the wind.
The scene in which the Eastern European prince meets the American dancer is a reflection of the short-lived love between Marilyn and Colin. Colin is the prince of the "real", and "The Dragon and the Phoenix" (the name of the play in that play) is a parody of the "real". So when Colin watched the demo, he once again felt the loss of love and the dislocation of his identity: Only in the play can his reality outside the play be put under the sun and fulfilled.
The Marilyn that Colin saw was the existence that existed both in and out of the dream, an ordinary woman and his Greek goddess. It's just that he can only choose one, and his subconscious obsession with dreams, together with Marilyn's obsession with dreams, will not make this love a stable relationship in reality.
The foothold of the story, in my opinion, lies in the process of growth and human beings. Marilyn went on to star in hugely successful films, Colin went on to become a successful documentary filmmaker and director, Sir George Oliver returned to the Court Theatre... Everyone's life goes on, but their perspectives, hearts and minds are intertwined. changed in an instant. After the personal fates meet, they each flow into different historical rivers.
However, when he looked back at the smiling Bai Meisheng's face on the screen again, there was a moment before he laughed, and there was a moment of regret in his eyes. Even so, he looked at her, admiring, admiring, marveling, applauding until tears filled his eyes, just like the general audience.
The ending is sad but gratifying. Everything is just right, their week, maybe they have seen the hope of moving forward from their own existence. Like Colin asked Marilyn, "Can't we just give up all this? You can be very happy." Marilyn said, "I'm already very happy."
The weight of the dream, everyone can only bear alone in the end.
There may be countless people who live for their dreams, and they will continue to walk on firmly after their hearts are broken.
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