Flesh (1968)

Director:

Paul Morrissey

Writer:

Paul Morrissey (writer)

Release Date:

27 May 1970 (West Germany)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Lesbian Scene | Nudity | Male Full Frontal Nudity | Lesbian Mother | Gay Parent

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Joe Dallesandro	...	Joe, the Hustler
Geraldine Smith	...	Geri, Joe's Wife
Patti D'Arbanville	...	Patti, Geri's Lover
Candy Darling	...	Candy, a Transvestite
Jackie Curtis	...	Jackie, a Transvestite
John Christian	...	Joe's Customer
Maurice Braddell	...	The Artist
Geri Miller	...	Terry
Louis Waldon	...	David, the Gymnast

Also Known As:

Andy Warhol's Flesh
Flesh (France) [fr]
Flesh (Finland) [fi]
Sarka (Greece) [el]

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:XXX (Nova Scotia) (video rating) | Australia:R | Finland:K-18 | France:-16 | Norway:18 (cut) | Sweden:15 | UK:(Banned) (1970) | UK:18 | UK:X (1971) | Canada:18+ (Quebec) | Canada:R (Ontario) | USA:R

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Factory Films (I)

Trivia:

UK censor John Trevelyan was wary of issuing the film a cinema certificate and suggested to the distributors that the film be shown on a club basis. When it was initially shown at the Open Space Theatre in London in February 1970 the cinema was raided by police who attempted to seize the film, leading Trevelyan himself to hastily rush to the cinema and vigorously defend the movie against possible prosecution, calling the police action 'unjustified and preposterous'. In the light of this incident Trevelyan was able to grant the film an uncut 'X' certificate.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): During a scene with the go-go dancer, Candy and Jackie alternately call her by the character's first name (Terry) and that of the actress playing her (Geri Miller).

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Warhol's Cinema 1963-1968: Mirror for the Sixties (1989) (TV)

the passive object of desire

Flesh is the first film of a trilogy by Paul Morrissey and Andy Warhol, and is perhaps the first attempt to create an icon of desire out of a male leading role. Although the film is focused on an uncomplicated character development of Joe (Joe Dallesandro), a gentle and subtly unhappy hustler, it depicts him as a passive and ambivalent object, who, in spite of a semi-evident sense of self-control, is possessed, shaped, and evaluated entirely by others. Joe is a young and somewhat naive Adonis who exudes comfort and beauty in his independence, but he works the streets to support his lesbian wife and her girlfriend. He is restlessly bored by an artist/customer's speeches on Greek athletic sculpture and 'body worship', but he sells his nudity anyway. He regards the increasing advances of his homosexual friend with ambivalence, but lets them happen nonetheless. This passivity dominates the film and succeeds in creating a visceral element to Dallesandro's appeal: not only is he desired, he is had.

Perhaps the film's most interesting element is the balance of its obviously experimental nature with its palpable directness. The snappy editing and fragmented dialogue make it fresh and 'real', yet it manages not to rely on the clichéd abstractness of art-films. It is rough, and indeed a weaker effort than Trash or Heat, but nonetheless presents a collection of perfectly plausible characters in a light of almost absolute neutrality.