PINK NARCISSUS (1971)

Gay filmmaker/photographer James Bidgood’s PINK NARCISSUS is a highly influential artistic queer cult classic that was released in 1971.

PINK NARCISSUS was created on 8mm film, primarily in Bidgood’s small New York apartment between 1964 & 1970. In 1971 it was released by the distributor without the artist’s consent. The film was credited as ‘Anonymous’ because the editors had altered the original work and Bidgood removed his name in protest.

There were rumours circulating for years as to the identity of the filmmaker – some thought it was a Warhol creation, others thought it might have been a work by Kenneth Anger. In the 1990s, author Bruce Benderson sought out the creator of the film and discovered it was James Bidgood.

Bidgood spoke of PINK NARCISSUS growing from his interest in the depictions of glamorized, and beautiful, women on stage and screen – especially the Ziegfeld Girls, Esther Williams, Marlene Dietrich and the Folies Bergère.

He thought that “we should be able to look at men the same way we look at women, just as glamorously, just as nude…I just wanted to see that, so I did it.”

Pulling further inspiration from physique magazines, the homoerotic artwork of George Quaintance, and a fantasy painting by Maxfield Parrish, PINK NARCISSUS was born.

This colourful and aesthetically gorgeous film features sets built by Bidgood and follows a gay male sex-worker (Bobby Kendall) who fantasizes and places himself in different sexual scenarios. He visualizes himself as a matador while cruising a men’s restroom and taunts his John as though he were a bull. In other scenarios he becomes a Roman slave and a member of an all-male harem.

A growing theme at this time in American experimental film was the blending of erotic imagery and art. Nothing blurs those lines quite like Bidgood’s “Pink Narcissus.” 

You can find PINK NARCISSUS streaming on BFI Player (UK) and some less than reputable options through Google search  – it’s also available on DVD through Strand and also BFI, on which you’ll find Brian Robinson’s full interview with Bidgood. 

PINK NARCISSUS

1971. USA.

Director: James Bidgood

Starring: Bobby Kendall, Don Brooks and Charles Ludlam.