What do The Vow
and My Week With Marilyn have in
common? Quite a few things actually…
They are both based on true stories. They are both
technically adaptations, as the true stories were recounted in a book before
they made it to the big screen. And they are both showing in Australian cinemas
this week.
The Vow
is based on The Vow: The Kim and Krickitt
Carpenter Story. The biography was written in 1996, and recounts a married
couple’s experience of surviving a car accident. Krickitt suffered a serious
head injury, which completely wiped her memory of meeting and marrying her
husband Kim.
My Week
With Marilyn is based on The
Prince, The Showgirl and Me and My
Week with Marilyn – both autobiographical tales by Colin Clark.
Colin
Clark was a British writer and filmmaker whose first job after finishing
university was on the film The Prince and
the Showgirl (1957). Laurence Olivier directed and starred in the film, and
the leading lady was none other than Marilyn Monroe.
The thing
about biographical adaptations is that true stories very rarely have the
typical movie-style happy ending. If conjured in the imagination of an author,
or scripted straight for Hollywood, the stories are likely to be very different.
We all
know that Marilyn Monroe’s life was as far from a fairytale, so I’m expecting
that the film will have a very raw, humanistic quality – but what of Kim and
Krickitt Carpenter’s story? Does Krickitt (renamed as Paige in the film) regain
her memory? Is Rachel McAdams given the opportunity to relive the memorable Notebook scene, of running into the
embrace of her long lost love?
Well I’m
not going to ruin it for you – you’ll have to watch the movie to find out.
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