[Busan International Film Festival (BIFF)] Maggie Gyllenhaal's 'Flesh Impact' ... Monroe's truth awakened after 100 years: "Women's cinema is written in a new language"

Marilyn Monroe, an icon of her era reinterpreted in women's language

Director 'Maggie Gyllenhaal', a celebrated actor in 'The Dark Knight' (2008) who established herself as a successful filmmaker with 'The Lost Daughter' (2022), came to the 31st Busan International Film Festival with her new film, 'Flesh Impact'.

'Flesh Impact' is a 22-minute short film that portrays Hollywood's eternal icon Marilyn Monroe from a contemporary perspective. The film is part of a global art project that came about after Genesis, Hyundai Motor's luxury brand, directly approached Gyllenhaal to direct it in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of Monroe's birth.

At an official press conference held July 7 at the Busan Cinema Center, Gyllenhaal said the film's premise was "on the surface, a story about Marilyn Monroe, but at its core, it is the story of every woman's experience across the ages, as well as the fierce struggle for survival of actors living onstage." The film uses an audition as an unusual framing device, interweaving Monroe's childhood with the hidden side of her life as a glamorous star.

She also spoke candidly about the pressure she felt during the early planning stages. "I hesitated to accept the directing job because I felt I didn't fully understand the depth of Monroe as a person," Gyllenhaal said. "I spent a week examining every one of Monroe's films, and I found the thread of the story as I imagined what she would be like at 100."

An ensemble of masters and a jury chair's pointed critique that shook Venice

The performances of two actresses representing different generations gave the film its polish. Ellen Burstyn, the veteran who won the Academy Award for Best Actress for 'Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore' in 1975, plays Monroe in old age, while Dakota Johnson, who shared remarkable chemistry with Gyllenhaal in 'The Lost Daughter', plays Monroe as a young woman. Together, they maximize the impact of the dual role. Gyllenhaal praised them, saying, "As a director, I find joy in drawing out unexplored territory that even actors themselves may not recognize. The moment the two actresses joined the project, a story that had existed only as text gained an intense vitality."

At the press conference, Gyllenhaal also offered sharp insights into the glass ceiling in the global film industry. She served as jury president of this year's 83rd Venice International Film Festival competition and pointed to the dismal reality that only one of the 21 films in competition was solely directed by a woman, highlighting the structural contradictions in the global film world.

The Golden Lion, Venice's top honor, went to May el-Toukhy, the sole woman directing alone in the competition, for 'Woman Unknown'. The Silver Lion, or Grand Jury Prize, went to 'A Possible Love', directed by South Korea's Lee Chang-dong, earning praise from critics around the world.

Family solidarity and the birth of a new cinematic grammar

Gyllenhaal's firm artistic convictions grew out of unwavering support from her family. The solidarity of the women in her family—including her mother, a writer, and her grandmother, a doctor—who forged independent lives beyond the limits of their eras helped shape who she is today. Her close relationship with her younger brother, Hollywood star 'Jake Gyllenhaal', has also been an important source of nourishment. "Jake, as an actor, and I, as a director, approach our work differently, but we respect each other's distinct tastes and perspectives and constantly inspire one another," she said.

Gyllenhaal closed by emphasizing the originality of women's stories and urging audiences to remain open-minded. "I respect the great films by male directors who speak in new languages we have never heard before. But when women creators are given complete freedom of expression, they inevitably create art with an entirely different grammar because they sense the world in a fundamentally different way."

She added, "Women's cinema is a text written in a language of an entirely different dimension, and that is both a blessing and a new opportunity for audiences. I hope many people will learn this unfamiliar yet captivating language and savor the joy of cinema," she stressed.