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Love, Marilyn

Play trailer Poster for Love, Marilyn 2012 1h 45m Documentary Play Trailer Watchlist
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65% Tomatometer 23 Reviews 58% Popcornmeter 250+ Ratings
Letters, diaries and rare footage reveal the personal side of Hollywood icon Marilyn Monroe. Glenn Close, Uma Thurman, Hope Davis and others read selections from Monroe's writings.
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Love, Marilyn

Love, Marilyn

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Critics Consensus

It's difficult to see between the lines in this popcorn-style reading of the icon's journals, but what talented voice-over provides in novelty, Love, Marilyn detracts with basic frivolity.

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Critics Reviews

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Henry Barnes Guardian Monroe's writing is beautifully succinct, but the cast deliver it with such mannered intensity that it comes across like the worst of Monroe's performances ... Rated: 2/5 Oct 17, 2013 Full Review Cath Clarke Time Out This intelligent, sensitive doc gets a bit pretentious as today's stars read Monroe's words. Rated: 3/5 Oct 15, 2013 Full Review David Parkinson Empire Magazine If not quite on the level of Garbus's terrific Bobby Fischer documentary, this is still filled with fond recollections of Mazza's life and career. Fans will relish it. Rated: 3/5 Oct 14, 2013 Full Review Ben Nicholson CineVue Whilst it proves stylistically innovative and emotionally thoughtful, Love, Marilyn rarely offers a deeper insight into the Hollywood icon. Rated: 3/5 Mar 5, 2019 Full Review Sarah Gopaul Digital Journal This is a beautiful, creative and artful documentary that doubles as a tribute to one of cinema's everlasting bombshells and overcomes its narrative holes by being sincere and well made. Mar 1, 2019 Full Review Neil Smith Total Film Given the number of Marilyn memorials already out there, this is just another pleasant, un-revelatory way to say goodbye Norma Jean. Rated: 3/5 Oct 28, 2013 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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david f A great documentary about the life and legend of Marilyn Monroe, told through pictures, film, and written accounts of those who knew her as well as her own writings and interviews. This is both a great place to start in learning about the starlet or an excellent film to watch even if you think you know her. It covers her upbringing, her career as an actress, and her personal life and marriages. And it focuses more on her life and what she accomplished than it does on the tragedy of some of the sadder events of her life. A really top-notch documentary about Hollywood. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Hourglass This is the best documentary about Marilyn Monroe that I have ever seen. So many great actors speaking her words on screen. It is nice to finally get a sense of who she was. It's so great to see something about her, that does not paint her as a sad drug addict that killed herself. She feels tangible through this lens, human, and real. I really enjoyed it very much. So I had to buy it. If you love Marilyn, you should really see, 'Love, Marilyn'. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/02/23 Full Review Liam D It's a very unique style for a documentary but for it's star studded celebrities it's not a diamond for a girl's best friend Rated 3 out of 5 stars 09/09/22 Full Review Audience Member Very comprehensive and creative biographical documentary. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/14/23 Full Review Audience Member "Love, Marilyn" is a documentary which does what so much media about Marilyn does not, it lets her speak for herself. Marilyn is one of the most interesting cases is media in that she is someone for whom there is so much love as an icon, but not much interest in the actual person. Everyone in the world is in love with who they think she was while "Love, Marilyn" shows that who they think she was was almost completely wrong. "Love, Marilyn" uses pieces and exerts from Marilyn's actual letters, diaries, and the records from those around her to let the real Marilyn shine, revealing her as the poetic, pragmatic, romantic, independent, opinionated, anxious, frustrated and occasionally depressed person she really was and, honestly, the more I learn about the real Marilyn and who she was behind the constructed persona, constructed partially by her and partially by the studio which had a death grip over her, the more I actually like her and cheer for her. The real Marilyn, or Norma-Jean if you want to strip away the veil entirely, is a far more interesting and sympathetic person to me than the icon which Marilyn Monroe is, and I think that she would be very happy to hear that. It seems so sad that someone who was never allowed much of a voice during her life is still rarely allowed a voice in the present as she achieves meme-status and has become one of the most recognizable images in the history of mankind. "Love, Marilyn" reveals so much of how people look at Marilyn and think they know her, just like how we look at celebrities today and think we know them and what a toll something like that can take on a person which is something people nowadays still seem to gloss over, and, while maybe there aren't the revelations that some may want out of a pic about Marilyn Monroe, if it does one thing, it lets Marilyn finally be allowed to tell her own story and show the audience who she really was and, I think, that it's about bloody time that she gets that chance. If anyone has earned the right to speak for herself, it's Marilyn. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/22/23 Full Review Audience Member A good documentary that must see. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/16/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Love, Marilyn

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Movie Info

Synopsis Letters, diaries and rare footage reveal the personal side of Hollywood icon Marilyn Monroe. Glenn Close, Uma Thurman, Hope Davis and others read selections from Monroe's writings.
Director
Liz Garbus
Producer
Stanley F. Buchthal, Liz Garbus, Amy Hobby
Screenwriter
Truman Capote
Production Co
StudioCanal
Genre
Documentary
Original Language
English
Release Date (Streaming)
Dec 18, 2014
Runtime
1h 45m
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