A woman recalls her memories of the Philippines in the 1930s: Narsing and Puring, a newly wed couple, come home from the city to the small village of Mulawin; to live in the ancestral house of Narsing’s father, Gusting, a land owner. Puring, his city-bred wife resembles Narsing’s dead mother, who had committed suicide after having been publicly shamed and punished by her husband for her romantic liaison.
Doray, Narsing’s sister, has also been a victim of her father’s authoritarian rule, and she has been forced to marry a man who is not of her own choice…
Puring, feeling rejected by the townsfolk, seeks companionship with a deaf-mute man, Goryo, who, just like her, remains an outsider.
She begins to develop an emotional relationship with him. Narsing, who works in the Kapitolyo, asks his father for his share of the inheritance.But the father prevails upon him to stay. So, the couple makes plans to leave the countryside and go back to the city.
However, one night, Puring, having overstayed in Goryo’s hut, is hunted and dragged home by her father-in-law, who present her to her husband for punishment.
However, Narsing reacts to the father’s brutality, especially after his wife informs him of Gusting’s attempt to make advances on her.
In the ensuing fight, the son slays his own father. Narsing is arrested and thrown to prison, where he finally commits suicide.
Meanwhile, Puring buries alive her infant son , believing it to be the devil’s offspring. At the end, Puring goes back to the city, while Doray seeks out her old sweetheart, with whom she later bears a daughter who acts as the writer-narrator woman of the story at the beginning of the film.
Of the Flesh (1983) is the third film of a “trilogy” directed by late Marilou Diaz-Abaya, after Brutal (1981), and Moral (1982), which established her as the foremost female director in the Philippines. She brought a new vision on the difficult condition of the women in Filipino society over the years.
Of the Flesh is a very strong social melodrama , with a quite obvious Hispanic touch, and even some influence from Luis Bunuel’s Mexican melodramas. Cecile Castillo (Puring) and Philip Salvador (Narsing) bring all their talent to that pregnant story, while Joel Torre, as Goryo, establishes himself as a new impressive actor.
The film was part of the Metro Manila Film Festival in 1983, and won the prestigious Urian Dekada 80 Award, after Moral.