‘Under the Spell of a Bombshell’

The New York Times has reviewed Nobody Else But You, the new French movie about the death of a Monroe wannabe, opening today in New York and Seattle.

“Of all the American cultural symbols that haunt the film, which borrows from the Coen brothers’ Fargo and from David Lynch’s Twin Peaks, the most indelible by far is Marilyn Monroe, or rather, the dream of Monroe…

As David doggedly continues and eventually finds his own life in danger, Candice’s troubled history is reconstructed through the flashbacks, beyond-the-grave voice-overs and excerpts from her scandalously revealing diaries. Candice’s story eerily mirrors Monroe’s biography in her choices of an athlete, a writer and a politician as husbands and lovers. The movie blithely exploits popular conspiracy theories about Monroe’s death.

If Nobody Else But You is smart and entertaining, it is a little too clever for its own good. As much as I appreciated Mr. Rouve’s dry deadpan detective writer and Ms. Quinton’s seductive, occasionally poignant pinup, I felt continually nudged by the movie’s winking self-awareness.”

And another review from NPR:

“The kinship between the two blondes is the plotline that will polarize Nobody Else But You‘s viewers. Some will be amused by writer-director Gerald Hustache-Mathieu’s elaborate links between Candice and Marilyn. But others will find them too goofy, especially in a film that presents a fairly grim view of how female stars are constructed and then demolished.”

And from Slant magazine:

“The film’s most interesting angle is its focus on female objectification…But such smart moves are negated by the increasingly ill-conceived plot…films trying to glean some shine from Monroe’s legacy have never fared well, and hitting the bullet points of her story overwhelms Nobody Else But You.”


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