100 x Marilyn

In the month marking the centenary of her birth, we present a retrospective dedicated to Marilyn Monroe, featuring a selection of films that were milestones not just in her career, but in the history of cinema as a whole.
Born Norma Jeane Mortenson, in Los Angeles, Monroe had a difficult childhood far from the glamour that would later define her. She began her career as a pin-up model but was quickly absorbed into the Hollywood studio machinery, taking on small roles before becoming one of the most popular stars of the 1950s.
Her filmography is proof of that evolution: from the “dumb blonde” of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) to the sophisticated comic of Some Like It Hot (1959), culminating in the singular vulnerability of The Misfits (1961). In every role, Monroe demonstrated a rare talent for comedy and dramatic nuance, with an ability to transform fragility into screen power and sensuality into innocence.
Even when limited by the script, her glow would shine through the gaps in the narrative, making each of her characters as irresistibly magnetic as the next.
Monroe was self-taught and never stopped studying: she attended the Actors Studio, where she took singing and dance classes; she was a voracious reader, of poetry and essays; and she was deeply interested in classical music and jazz. Discreetly, she also held antiracist views and supported Black actors, a not insignificant gesture in the era of racial segregation. In 1955, seeking greater creative control over her career in a male-dominated system based on oppressive contracts, she founded Marilyn Monroe Productions, producing films such as Bus Stop (1956) and The Prince and the Showgirl (1957).
Though her career was cut short, Marilyn Monroe continues to inhabit our collective imagination. She is frequently imitated and reinterpreted, a symbol of nostalgia and, at the same time, an inspiration for new artistic work. More than a pop icon, Monroe can be read today as a symbol of Hollywood’s contradictions: of the exploitation of the female body, and the ongoing struggle, not always successful, for autonomy, artistic credibility and an authentic voice.