Flesh Impact

This June, Marilyn Monroe would have turned 100 years old, which is why cinemas all across the globe (including the BFI) held retrospectives of her work this summer. In her short film Flesh Impact, Venice’s 2026 jury president Maggie Gyllenhaal imagines what reaching this milestone might have looked like for the Hollywood icon, had she lived.

In a small, blacked-out theatre, auditions for a Tennessee Williams production have just about wrapped up when an elderly woman (Ellen Burstyn) arrives and asks to still be heard. Despite considering her completely wrong for the part she wants to read for, the play’s director (Peter Sarsgaard) is intrigued by the woman’s moxie and lets her take the stage. She performs a monologue from Orpheus Descending and recounts stories from her creative path.

It’s the next fan fiction about the legendary actress at the Lido, after Blonde premiered here four years ago, but Gyllenhaal views her legacy through a decidedly more feminist lens than Andrew Dominik’s controversial adaptation. The screening of the short film at the festival was used as an occasion to present 93-year-old Ellen Burstyn with the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, and during the ceremony the EOT-winning (only missing a Grammy for the full quartet) veteran spoke about learning her craft under Lee Strasberg, who was Monroe’s acting teacher.

It is a bittersweet feeling to see Burstyn (rightfully!) receive this honour, but in combination with Flesh Impact, one’s heart aches for Monroe, who was denied the opportunity to see where her career might have taken her in old age.

Likely, our enduring fascination with Monroe is at least in part a product of her early death. By comparison, Audrey Hepburn lived to the age of 63, yet it is predominantly images of her youth that remain in circulation. It’s a strange industry that sometimes sees survival as something to bury rather than celebrate, and this film appears very aware of this paradox.

At a time when a family film like Practical Magic 2, that – despite its targeting of a female audience – is too afraid to portray its protagonists as the 60-year-old women their actresses actually are, Flesh Impact rebels against Hollywood’s pathological aversion to ageing. Gyllenhaal deliberately focuses on the resilient beauty and graceful tenacity Burstyn brings to the role, instead of lingering on Johnson’s youthful interpretation. An interesting visual decision was to forgo her trademark red lipstick in either incarnation; instead, she is wearing tones of soft pink on her lips.

Gyllenhaal also cleverly subverts filming a classical commercial, seeing as Genesis Motor is the sponsor for the project, although some viewers might still consider it an ad. Fans of Marilyn Monroe will be delighted by this little glimpse of our time with her in it, while those unfamiliar with her work may find it an enticing introduction.

Selina Sondermann

Read more reviews from our Venice Film Festival 2026 coverage here.

For further information about the event, visit the Venice Film Festival website here.