Flesh + Blood (1985) as a title has always felt like the best summary of Paul Verhoeven as a director. This is what marks his greatness, a keen study of “flesh and blood,” all the ways it can be shown and conceptualised. How moments can stick in your mind through the filmmaker’s capacity to make it salacious and repulsive. The film itself, a medieval adventure set in 16th century Italy, was an expensive flop, Verhoeven’s first English-language feature and a stepping stone to eventually making Robocop in America.
I remember the first time I saw Flesh + Blood, I found it unpleasant and weird. The presence of two Australian actors like Jack Thompson and Tom Burlinson in the cast felt strange, which was the result of it being an international co-production. Even the presence of Bruno Kirby in this was odd, who I associated with 90s comedies, in there alongside character actors like Brion James. How the mercenaries we follow as a family unit are pretty disgusting, even the women and the one boy. The triangle between the two men – Rutger Hauer’s rogue and Burlinson’s royalty – and Jennifer Jason Leigh’s character as a princess betrothed and kidnapped for ransom. Flesh + Blood is not an easy film to love, and it doesn’t seem to care. Revels in the depraved behaviour of the middle ages, which synchronises with the director’s capacity and interest for strikingly profane and visceral moments. Rancid vibes like a diseased dead dog’s body parts catapulted into a castle.
Upon revisiting, I was struck by how casually grotty and visceral the film is. How could I forget the sight of Rutger Hauer fitting a dead baby wrapped in cloth into a small barrel as its casket? Or Susan Tyrell heckling a soldier caught in a tree by yelling, “Into my mouth!” Or Tom Burlinson and Jennifer Jason Leigh’s first kiss in the woods, sitting underneath two hanged, rotting corpses? It’s a hectic movie about a fucked time. Plague, rape, swords, lightning, explosions… no clear heroes or virtuous people. Even the most traditionally heroic carry mercurial moments, and even the most vile have moments of grace.
I definitely appreciated Flesh + Blood more upon revisiting. Even though Verhoeven and Hauer had disagreements and would not work together after this, it feels like a classic Rutger Hauer performance, charming yet menacing, capable of deplorable actions but intriguingly complicated. Leigh is also excellent, as the prisoner who strategically manipulates the mercenaries to stay alive, and avoid further abuse and degradation. Basil Poledouris provides the score, and the pre-CGI production involves a castle location, horses, costumes, lightning and explosions. As exploitative as Conan knock-offs from the 1980s era might be, Flesh + Blood strikes a discordant note by having ideas cooking in its broth with the rise of science, technology and table manners encroaching on the period depicted, and yet, not strong enough to halt the tide of flesh and blood, as the upper class default on their promises once in power and religious epiphanies are utilised for personal gain.
Available to stream on Tubi. Recommended, if you can stomach it.
VHS Tracking 