What if Marilyn Monroe had always been mistaken for something she wasn't? Global sex symbol, photographic icon, tragic myth… and actress, too often relegated to the background. To mark the centenary of her birth, the Cinémathèque française has chosen to shift its perspective, returning to the origins of the myth. The exhibition contrasts the glamour manufactured by the star system with the reality of a performer who composes, modulates, anticipates. Costumes, promotional material, photographs by Eve Arnold or Richard Avedon engage in dialogue with film excerpts, scene analyses, and the subtle discrepancies between the expected image and what actually unfolds on screen.

The Cinémathèque does what it does best: slows down the gaze, puts cinema back at the center. We then discover an actress attentive to gestures, to tempo, to the relationship with her co-stars. A trained actress, aware of the effects she produces, capable of irony as well as vulnerability. Far from the "naive blonde," Marilyn constructs roles, sometimes against type, often in tension with the image imposed by the studios. This friction nourishes her art as much as the misunderstandings surrounding her.

The exhibition also shows how the myth was created: promotional narratives, peremptory male commentary, approximate biographies. She doesn't seek to reveal a hypothetical "real Marilyn," but to expose the beliefs projected onto her—and what they say about Hollywood, the 1950s, and our relationship with actresses. And a hundred years later, we are finally beginning to move beyond the frozen image to look at the woman and actress she truly was.

THE FRENCH CINEMATHEQUE
From April 8 to July 26, 2026
51 rue de Bercy, 75012 - Metro Bercy (Lines 14/6)
Mon., Wed., Thu., and Fri. 12pm-7pm, Sat. and Sun. 11am-8pm - Closed on Tue.
Price: €14 - Reduced price: €11/€7 - Free for children under 6