Pink Narcissus

PINK NARCISSUS

An extremely handsome, self-involved, brooding young man escapes the realities of his street life through a series of fantasies of incredible beauty. Obsessed with his own perfection, he lives in a dreamworld of fantastic colors, magnificent music, elaborate costumes and strikingly handsome males. In a series of Walter Mitty-like sequences he imagines himself as a roman slave chosen by the emperor, as a triumphant matador vanquishing the bull (who is really a black leather clad cyclist), an innocent wood nymph gamboling in the woods, a diaphanously dressed harem boy in the tent of the sheik. He imagines his room as an exquisite jewel-encrusted retreat. But reality constantly intrudes through the depraved lives of the other street people, through the harsh and ugly sounds outside and through the visits of his “johns”. His narcissistic enchantment with his own beauty and lifestyle is marred by one great fear – aging and loss of his youth and good looks. And, in a final terrible glimpse of reality, the jaded “john” becomes himself.

About the Film

James Bidgood began working on PINK NARCISSUS in 1963. Seven years into production, in a dispute with the film’s financiers, Bidgood had his name removed from the project. The film was released in 1971 with credits for director, producer, writer and photography listed as “Anonymous.” Twenty years later, Bidgood acknowledged his role as the film’s creator.

Screenings