Sick: The Life & Death of Bob Flanagan, Supermasochist

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Sick: The Life & Death of Bob Flanagan, Supermasochist

June 4th 2008 02:05

The final selection in my inaugural "Extremus Atrox" series, and also an appropriate bridge into the 55th Sydney Film Festival, is the documentary Sick: The Life & Death of Bob Flanagan, Supermasochist (1997), a powerful and profoundly moving portrait of a man obsessed with pain and his body.

I first saw this film when it screened at the Wellington Film Festival eleven years ago. The same year it won the Special Jury Prize at Sundance. At the time it was surrounded by controversy, mostly due to a short, but intensely graphic scene of self-mutilation which would make the staunchest of males weak at the knees. I was anticipating this scene when I watched the movie again the other night, yet when it presented itself I was unprepared and I think my reaction was even more squeamish than the first time.

Bob Flanagan, the man with the iron wit

Bob Flanagan was a performance artist who died from the disease cystic fibrosis. It is a ghastly affliction that kills most sufferers before they reach the age of 20. Basically your lungs continue to fill up with liquid causing huge amounts of sticky mucus which you cough up as phlegm. It’s agonising and distressing and there is no cure. Bob Flanagan lived to the age of 43.

Filmmaker Kirby Dick was making a documentary about Bob’s battle with the disease and how he developed an obsession with sadomasochism and bondage & discipline in an effort to control the pain that racked his body. By choosing to inflict pain upon himself in a manner and intensity he could control he was able to keep the uncontrollable disease pain at bay. His frail body became remarkably and extraordinarily resilient.

Sheree Rose and her supermasochist

Of course, one can’t be a true masochist without a sadist close by. Bob Flanagan’s wife, Sheree Rose, whom he met when he was in his 20s, was his soul mate. Sheree was an unapologetic woman who loved to administer levels of pain upon Bob’s body; his personal dominatrix. By himself and together they forged numerous projects based around installations, videos and photographs and performance pieces. She never performed on stage with him, but she was always in the wings, whip and riding crop at the ready.

The doco was originally designed around Bob the body artist, but the end result is more about Bob the man. Director Dick never intended the doco to culminate with Bob’s death, but he was there when Bob’s health rapidly declined, and with Sheree’s permission, he captured Bob’s last hours on a hospital bed, and used stills taken by Sheree of Bob moments after death. It is this sequence that is so sad, especially watching Sheree, who prior to this comes across as rather selfish, appearing so vulnerable and trying to get Bob to hang on just a little longer.

Whip it! Whip it good!

Despite the inherent macabre element to the whole documentary, it is actually quite life-affirming. It is also very funny at times, Bob being a natural comedian. Many of his live stand-up performances (usually at S&M clubs) were videoed, and excerpts are shown. Some of his installation work (his Visible Man is disgustingly hilarious!), mostly in underground clubs, but some in highly reputable NYC galleries, is provocative stuff, especially considering the amount of pain he’s already in; hanging huge weights from his scrotum and penis in particular. There’s also home videos shot by Sheree which might push a few panic buttons for people.

Bob was a poet as well, and there are numerous readings (either videos of Bob performing live, or a voice-over) of his work, all of which detail his kinky sexual proclivities and sadomasochistic fantasies. Bob wasn’t shy about his sexuality; in fact he used it as a jarring tool within his art. He was an exhibitionist obviously, and he took that element to the extreme; public display of full-frontal nudity was part and parcel with Bob Flanagan. His cock and balls, despite being “owned” by Sheree, were there for the entire world to see … and to see them being stretched and pierced was even better.

This brings me to that scene, when Bob drives a nail through the head of his penis into a block of wood, in close-up. Then he hammers the nail a little harder. Then he plies the nail out, and the blood spurts all over the camera lens. Ow. Ow!. Owww!

Hardware gives me hard-ons, croaks Bob

Bob Flanagan’s attitude was “fuck the sickness”, and he was an amazing and valiant warrior. But eventually the real pain became too much. He’d fought a hard and long battle, but the disease won. The war was over.

There is a poignant sequence where Bob meets a young sufferer of cystic fibrosis, a 17-year-old girl called Sarah, mature beyond her years. Bob was her idol. Hearing her thoughts on life and death in the presence of her somewhat bewildered mother is inspirational, yet heart-breaking. Later she meets Bob again and he holds her hand as she gets her nipples pierced; the start of her own journey of battling the pain with pain. I wonder where she is now. Is she still alive?

After the montage of Bob’s prone body and the nurses removing his body the documentary briefly shows the funeral service and then we see Sheree a month later sorting through Bob’s personal items. With gloves on she uncovers a large special hospital vessel containing the fluid that was in Bob’s lungs. There’s about three or so litres of the stuff! Horrendous! The poor, poor man. I hope Sheree disposed of it as she would of Bob’s ashes if he’d been cremated.

Bob in performance art mode on stage via video screen

Sick is not maudlin or depressing, even though at times Bob is obviously depressed. He was a brave and courageous man whose nightmarish existence only fuelled his desire to challenge people’s perceptions on what it is to be fragile, but strong, to be debilitated, yet persevere, to take the bull by the horns, and kick him in the gonads. I'm not sure why, but I'm reminded of a joke I’m sure Bob would’ve found amusing: A young bull and his father are standing on the top of the hill looking down at all the cows. “Gee dad,” says the young bull, “let’s charge down the hill and fuck one of them cows!” The father bull looks down at his son and smiles, “No son, we’re gonna trot down the hill and fuck ‘em all.”

I couldn't find a trailer or any clips from the doco, but here is Bob Flanagan in the Nine Inch Nails clip Happiness in Slavery (not especially work safe):