When do the stars get star-struck? The answer, in 1956, was when Marilyn Monroe came to town, glitzing up drab Blighty with a pencil skirt and a wink.
The story of the tortuous filming of The Prince And The Showgirl is so rich with contrasts that the fun flows effortlessly - the luvvie thesp (Olivier) and the faux-Method girl, the fading star (Vivien Leigh) and the mesmeric beauty, post-war England and Hollywood excess, stiff upper lips and shimmering rubies.
The film is based on the true story of Colin Clark and his brief, bizarre and intimate encounter. Indeed, here is an air of Lost In Translation here as two mismatched strangers meet and find a deep but ephemeral connection.
"She wanted a friend," explained Marilyn script writer Adrian Hodges. "And through a series of incidents, she became very close and intimate with Colin Clark because he was always there and was non-threatening."
Eddie Redmayne as Colin is a mix of upper class confidence and emotional gawkiness as he sets about accomplishing the task that others had failed - to rescue her. Fresh out of Oxford he acted as gofer for family friend Sir Laurence Olivier until Marilyn called him irretrievably hither.
Michelle Williams in a performance that will surely earn an Oscar nod brings the beauty thrillingly alive.
She is the embodiment of the trembling mess, all little girl lost, vicious hips and guileless manipulation. The woman who asks "shall I be her?" before switching on the smile.
Williams said: "Even as a young girl my primary connection wasn't with this larger-than life personality but with what was going on underneath."
So we feel closer to the person than the icon, beset by a rampant insecurity that was her driving force and downfall.
This is a witty and stylish film drawing uniformly strong performances from the cream of British talent who seem keen to outdo each other with their deft cameos.
Kenneth Branagh is a joy. Exasperated, Sir Laurence, director and star of Showgirl, fails to disguise contempt for Monroe's artless acting and yet he is staggered by her presence on film. All his talent, craft and experience counted for nothing against her celluloid sexuality.
Therein lies their conflict. He's got the craft but not the appeal, she's got the appeal but not the craft.
Teaching her acting is like "teaching Urdu. To a badger".
"Just try to be sexy," he shouts as she screws up a scene once more. "Isn't that what you do?"
And the cutting remark runs to the heart of her insecurity. She wants to do but everyone just wants her to be.
There's a rip-roaring turn too for Judi Dench as the maternal Dame Sybil Thorndyke - but then again everyone gets a bash, including Zoe Wanamaker, Dominic Cooper and blink-and-you-miss-them showings for Simon Russell Beale, Sir Derek Jacobi and Emma Watson.
But who wouldn't want in on the film of the year? The whole circus is one big wink to the modern audience with screwball tinsel wrapped around a heart-melting central performance.
Colin is warned not to fall in love with Marilyn. She'll break your heart, they say. Watching this film the advice is just as pertinent .
But you will. And she will.
– From November 2011
