EDDY is the No. 1 host of a gay bar called JUNE. He is intimate with GONDA, the proprietor of the bar, who deals drugs. GONDA lives with REDA, the manager of the bar, who is now aware of his relationship with EDDY and violently jealous. EDDY senses REDA's jealousy and becomes extremely frightened, which touches off horrible memories of his past: his father abandoned EDDY when he was very young, and he was brought up by his mother, but one day when she brought home a man, EDDY attacked and killed her with a kitchen knife.
The antagonism between REDA and EDDY finally comes to a head with a fight. REDA hires OSUMI, the leader of a street gang, to attack EDDY and scar his beautiful face. REDA's plan fails; when GONDA finds out he is infuriated and walks out. In despair, REDA commits suicide in a white wedding dress. EDDY becomes the new manager of the bar. He can now see GONDA without fear, but GONDA accidentally makes a horrifying discovery: EDDY is the son he once abandoned. GONDA slashes his throat and bleeds to death. When EDDY realizes why, he pokes his own eyes out with a knife.

NOTES:
Director MATSUMOTO TOSHIO's filmography includes documentaries as well as PR films and radio and TV programs; a film critic as well, he expresses his own theories of cinema in experimental films. "Funeral Parade of Roses" is his first feature length non-documentary work. In it, he avoids the consistent development of plot: the film deviates now and then from the storyline, inserting location scenes and interviews with gay men, in documentary fashion. MATSUMOTO confronts head-on the subject of homosexuality -- which was regarded as taboo in the world of Japanese film. In the Greek tragedy, Oedipus kills his father and sleeps with his mother; in this contemporary version by MATSUMOTO, he kills his mother and sleeps with his father.
Peter, who plays the role of EDDY, made his debut in this film. His acting in KUROSAWA's "RAN" (1985) won critical acclaim. AKIYAMA SHOTARO (photographer) , AWAZU KIYOSHI (designer), YODOGAWA NAGAHARU (film critic), SHINODA MASAHIRO (film director) and other artists appear in the film in cameo roles.