Film “M” by Finnish director Anna Ericsson won the Grand Prix and Best Feature Film at the Prague Independent Film Festival, and also Best Feature Film and Best Cinematography at the Vienna Independent Film Festival. The film initially premiered at the Venice Critics’ Week in 2018. Ericsson, best known as a singer in her native Finland, directed and edited the film, composed the film’s score and played the lead role.
The film is extraordinary in its form and content. Inspired by life of Marylin Monroe it reflects her fears, desires and torments. The structure is original; we hear the voices of actors mostly on tape recordings, which adds a morbid undertone. Almost all characters and events happen to be mystical and it is difficult to separate the dreams and imagination from reality. Red lips whispering “mmm” are shown on the screen several times; we see them opening and solely darkness is inside. There is something haunting and enigmatic in these frames. In this film Marilyn is in limbo, she is between her dread and wish of death. We see in close-up bloody meat, nailing of human flesh and these sinister images build gradual tension and symbolize not only physical pain, but also emotional deterioration of the protagonist. In “M” Marilyn is often nude and it creates the image of an exposed and fragile woman.
It is a surrealist story, with the last period of Marilyn Monroe’s existence serving as the main influence. Anna Ericsson successfully conveys the suffering and fears of the actress. It is a an experimental, mysterious picture, where the physical world converges into dreams and nightmares. A soul in agony is depicted – a vulnerable woman who is lost in a cruel society which takes advantage of her. Sexually used, lonely, betrayed and disappointed, she is on the dark way to death. Marilyn Monroe once said – “Dogs never bite me. Just humans.”
Excellent music and sound design are the key elements of the film that set the ominous atmosphere. Camerawork is precise and impressive. Even the most shocking scenes are aesthetically immaculate. This film is not for everybody – it is not for someone who expects a standard biopic.
Marilyn Monroe is a tragic figure, a woman who was often misunderstood and misrepresented as many other women who were sexually exploited in man’s world and did not possess the possibility to assert themselves.
“M” is very expressive and has a completely unique cinematic language and style, it is wholly engrossing although it does not have a straightforward linear narrative.
Marilyn Monroe experienced insomnia for many years, and when a person does not sleep for a long time, one can be in a state between being awake and being asleep, what was well exemplified by the last scene, where Marilyn runs alone in moonlight towards the blackness which engulfs her whole.
