Narcissus
Norman McLaren's 59th film, which opened the 1983 World Film Festival in Montreal, is one of the most ambitious in his long career, which started in 1933. The film is based on the Greek myth of the native youth who falls in love with his own image, and becomes the victim of excessive self love.
As in his previous dance film, "Pas De Deux', 1967, McLaren has chosen dance over animation as the more subtle vehicle for portraying human emotion. The dancers are principals from the Martha Graham Dance Company, the Cleveland Ballet, and Les Grands Ballets Canadians.