SICK: The Life and Death of Bob Flanagan, super masochist

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Movie
German title SICK: The Life and Death of Bob Flanagan, super masochist
Original title SICK: The Life and Death of Bob Flanagan, super masochist
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1997
length 90 minutes
Age rating FSK 18
Rod
Director Kirby Dick
production Kirby Dick
music Blake Leyh
camera Jonathan Dayton
Kirby Dick
Sheree Rose
cut Kirby Dick
Dody Thorn
occupation

SICK: The Life and Death of Bob Flanagan, Supermasochist is an American documentary film directed by Kirby Dick made in 1997. The film follows the on cystic fibrosis sufferer writers , musicians, performance artists and BDSM activists Bob Flanagan in recent years before his Death in 1996.

action

The documentary accompanies Flanagan in the last few years until his death and shows how he inflicts pain on himself as part of BDSM in order to be able to better endure the pain caused by his illness.

In addition to the sadomasochistic practices of the artist, the director Kirby Dick shows several very personal interviews with various interlocutors. The viewer learns of Flanagan's painful struggle with his ultimately fatal illness. In addition to the unusual and sometimes disturbing handling of his own body, the great importance that Flanagan's partnership with his girlfriend and dominatrix Sheree Rose had for him in the last phase of his life is highlighted . The depictions of more drastic sadomasochistic acts were partly recorded by Rose herself in private and integrated into the film. Interviews with friends and family of the artist, as well as an appearance where he jokes about his illness in front of students, are also included. The production accompanies the artist's ordeal to the intensive care unit and shows the corpse after its death. It ends with the funeral and a collage showing video recordings from the artist's life since he was five.

Reviews

"Flanagan and Rose prove to be an exceptionally creative and intelligent couple who are able to turn their passion into art, even if it is very special and sometimes includes overwhelmingly brutal exhibitionism."

- Los Angeles Times

"Even his most extreme performance is a cheat struck to death, and the real scandal of the film is by no means the famous nail performance, but the artist's authentic death captured on film."

- taz

“SICK is a deeply humane document. A film full of respect. He gets his special fascination from the way in which the personality of Flanagan comes close to you in all the pictures, and from his humor, as well as the fact that in the personal irony and sarcasm with which he talks about himself, one is always existential Ernst feels. "

- artechock.de

"The audience can find access to this radical way of life through the intensity of the portrait."

- rhein-zeitung.de

“Sick does an excellent job of presenting us with extreme, sometimes chilling footage while making us like and admire Flanagan. It's true, he was a madman and an exhibitionist, but he was also a talented writer who was willing to take risks, face death and live his life on his own terms. "

- San Francisco Chronicle

“There are scenes in Sick that forced me to look away. The scenes I watched were even more painful, however. In the end, Bob struggles for every breath and Sheree cries and takes care of him. What we see is a couple who had something that, however bizarre, gave them the roles they preferred and mutual reassurance. Now death takes away all of this. "

- Chicago Sun-Times

Awards

  • 1998
    • Las Vegas Film Critics Society Awards
      • Sierra Award (Best Documentation)

backgrounds

  • In 1997 the film was part of the Panorama of the Berlin International Film Festival .
  • The British censorship authority BBFC ordered sections with a total length of 3 m 42 s for the British market. The cuts concerned two sadomasochistic scenes in which breath control, the piercing of a penis , the rectal insertion of metal balls and the penetration of a glans penis with a nail and a hammer were shown. The authority pointed out that, from their point of view, the practices presented were highly dangerous and their presentation could encourage imitation by interested sadomasochists.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kevin Thomas: "Flanagan and Rose prove to be an exceptionally creative and intelligent couple who were able to turn their obsessions into art, albeit of a highly specialized kind and involving at times an overwhelmingly brutal exhibitionism."
  2. ↑ Volker Hummel: One step ahead of death . In: taz Hamburg , May 16, 2003, p. 23
  3. ^ Rüdiger Suchsland: Body Worlds , artechock.de
  4. ↑ rhein-zeitung.de  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / rhein-zeitung.de  
  5. ↑ Edward Guthmann: “'Sick' does a remarkable thing in presenting extreme, sometimes revolting material and simultaneously making us like and admire Flanagan. True, he was a madman and exhibitionist; but he was also a gifted writer who was committed to taking risks, confronting death and living life on his own terms. "In: San Francisco Chronicle , November 7, 1997, pp. C-14, sfgate.com
  6. ↑ Roger Ebert: “There are scenes in 'Sick' that forced me to look away. But the scenes I did watch were, if anything, more painful. At the end, as Bob fights for breath and Sheree weeps and cares for him, what we are seeing is a couple who had something, however bizarre, that gave them the roles they preferred, and mutual reassurance. Now death is taking it all away. ”In: Chicago Sun-Times , December 5, 1997, rogerebert.suntimes.com