Pink Ulysses

Eric de Kuyper’s 1990 Dutch film PINK ULYSSES is an underseen classic of queer cinema. Showing in a stunning recent restoration by Eye Filmmuseum (de Kuyper is the former museum director), the film is both a gay-themed riff on Homer’s “The Odyssey” and a response to James Bidgood’s pioneering 1971 film PINK NARCISSUS. De Kuyper is inspired by Penelope’s weaving in The Odyssey, threading together original footage, clips from several earlier films (including ones by Sergei Eisenstein, Jean Delannoy, and Bob Mizer), and classical musical selections from Wagner, Rossini, Stavinsky, and many more. PINK ULYSSES is light on story and heavy on bold, striking visuals in both vibrant color and intense black-and-white. The tale of Ulysses and Penelope provides the film’s framework but, like Ulysses’ journey, the film wanders through a world of light and color and music and dance and cinema. Upon its initial release, Variety said: “This could easily become a cult film. Question is: the cult of what? Of lovers of music, of dance, of bodies and eroticism, sensuality, gay movies, of astonishing shots? In any case, PINK ULYSSES [....] is an attention-grabber.” Showing in an HD restoration by Eye Filmmuseum.

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