Lee Siegel
Unsexing Marilyn
It is not entirely the fault of the recent movie *My Week with Marilyn*—about Monroe’s disastrous attempt to make *The Prince and the Showgirl* with Laurence Olivier—that it is devoid of sex, which is something like depicting the life of Napoleon without mentioning that he was French. Monroe might have been one of the most sexual beings who ever lived, but the portrayals of her, even by disillusioned observers, sooner or later descend into a sanitized ideal. The sex is overtaken by sentimental treacle, or heroic fantasy, or defensive over-analysis.
January 5, 2012