Flesh Impact (short film) ★★★

On the cover, Marilyn Monroe might be the heroine of Maggie Gyllenhaal‘s semi-biographical short film. But the glistening presence at its core is really Ellen Burstyn, who at 93 years old embodies an imaginary elderly version of the iconic actress. The latter’s legendary physical presence, coined by Billy Wilder as the titular “flesh impact”, becomes an antithetical analogy of Burstyn’s mesmerizing aura. With an odd combination of confidence and insecurity, she walks into a New York black-box theatre to audition. Peter Sarsgaard and Sepideh Moafi, who play the director and producer, are initially irritated, explaining to her that she’s a couple of decades too old for the part.

But neither Burstyn nor Monroe is intimidated so easily. As she starts recollecting formative events from her short life – in reality, that is – Burstyn’s Monroe forces her audience on screen and in the theatre to confront the objectification and commodification of female bodies. None has been photographed more than that of Marilyn, who found power in her star persona, an image which she thoughtfully created and saw as distinct from her true self, but felt also trapped in. Or rather: trapped by how this star image would be seen as a brainless tool of sexual gratification. Monroe’s struggle to be recognized as the talented and serious artist that she was is well-known and well-documented.

Burstyn has achieved such recognition, and part of the empathetic power of her performance – which despite all physical differences is really an embodiment – lies in her projecting some of that recognition onto her character. As her younger self, Monroe is played by Dakota Johnson, who does a good job but never comes close to Burstyn. Hollywood mythology and harsh reality reflect upon one another in this tender exploration of how women are seen, both figuratively and literally, in society and on the screen. While Monroe’s youth and beauty made her visible, old age and the loss of conventional beauty standards make women like Burstyn invisible. 

As their stories and characters overlap, changing patterns as well as constant tropes of stardom, fame, and femininity emerge. Though director-writer Gyllenhaal barely scratches the surface of Marilyn Monroe’s biography and pop-cultural impact, her miniature monograph still gives a fascinating glimpse into her life, its tragedies and triumphs. Putting decades of experience of being watched into her performance, Burstyn reveals a side of a cultural icon that no one has ever seen, as it never had the chance to exist. Interlocking a young and imaginary old Marilyn also hints at the contradictory standards women in the industry (and beyond) still face: being sexy, yet modest; educated, yet not too intelligent; experienced, yet innocent; authentic, yet artificial.