Le Ménage moderne de Madame Butterfly[a] is a 1920 black-and-white bisexual, hardcore pornographic film from France.
Bernard Natan was a Romanian Jew who is claimed to have produced, directed and acted in at least one hardcore heterosexual pornographic film prior to 1920.
[3][4] Le Ménage moderne de Madame Butterfly is one of the earliest pornographic films attributed to Natan, and the first of these works to depict homosexuality and bisexuality.
[10] The French intertitles are generally witty and humorous, poking fun at racism and American arrogance while making a number of double entendres.
[12] Le Ménage moderne du Madame Butterfly is the oldest known motion picture to depict hardcore homosexual sex acts on film.
[6][13] The first known motion pictures depicting nude men were made by Eadweard Muybridge in the 1880s and 1890s as part of his studies of human locomotion.
[16] Le Ménage moderne du Madame Butterfly is unusual in that it not only depicts homosexual sex acts, but that it does so very early in the history of pornographic film.
Scholars have expressed surprise that a beginning filmmaker would produce a work which contained sex acts which might anger or offend the target audience (straight men).
That Bernard would do so is a testament, film historians have said, to his willingness to take risks and his subtle understanding of the role homoeroticism and homosexuality play in French male sexual identity.