The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe is a made-for-TV drama based on the book of the same name by J. Randy Taraborrelli. The biopic is set as a conversation between Marilyn and her analyst in which Marilyn recounts her story from her turbulent childhood years, her rise to fame and the inner turmoil she faced and demons she dealt with including her struggle with mental illness and her troubled relationship with her mentally ill mother and finally the conspiracy surrounding her death.
Marilyn is played by Kelli Garner. Fans of Pan Am will recognise her as Kate. Kelli portrayed Marilyn's wide eyed fun side incredibly well however she didn't quite capture Marilyn's whispery voice as well as Michelle Williams did in My Weekend with Marilyn. Her performance though excellent was somewhat overshadowed by Susan Sarandon's as Gladys, Marilyn's disturbed mother. I also have to mention the fantastic makeup job that has been done to make Kelli look incredibly like Marilyn.
There has been a number of biopics made about Marilyn over the years but The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe covers the parts of Marilyn's life that she did not want made public. However with such an icon Marilyn's story is well known and this drama does not really cover any new ground that we haven't seen in other biopics of the star.
Being only a 2 part made for TV bio-pic only certain parts of Marilyn's story could be covered and the biopic does not really go into Marilyn's marriages in any depth nor does it cover some of her biggest films like some like it hot. It also fails to mention Marilyn's relationship with Frank Sinatra.
There is also a number of inaccuracies that occur in the biopic (you can read more about those here)
I also found the final scene with Marilyn on the beach with her mother a little contrived and 'fluffy'. Having said that this show is well worth a watch as long as you don't really expect too much of it.
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