Inspired by the writings of Jean Genet and shot in lurid, expressionist staged colour, Querelle is an intense homoerotic tale of masculinity and the last film of controversial German auteur Rainer Werner Fassbinder.
Artificial in its world of gay fetish imagery and an uncompromising portrayal of gay male sensibility, Querelle (Brad Davis) sails into the port of Brest with a stash of opium he wants to offload. Adored from afar by a lieutenant (Franco Nero) aboard ship, he finds his way to Feria, a bar and brothel for sailors run by Madame Lysiane (Jeanne Moreau). Her lover Robert (Hanno Pöschl) is, reportedly, Querelle’s brother. It is Lysiane’s husband Nono (Günther Kaufmann) who is the drug distributor.
As menacing as Genet’s poetic prose, Querelle is a lurid confusion of a narrative. Visually captivating, it’s a tale of sex, passion and murder. Fleeting moments last a life time in Genet’s transitory world resulting in an intensity of emotion and connection. Yet for all it’s surreal beauty, Fassbinder’s film is not easy – through its exaggeratedly theatrical presentation, there’s a Brechtian emotional distancing. Awkward, at times tortured, dialogue compounds.
Rating: 55%
Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder (Fear Eats the Soul, Veronika Voss)
Writer: Rainer Werner Fassbinder (Fear Eats the Soul, Veronika Voss), Burkhard Driest (The Brutalisation of Franz Blum, Slow Attack) – based on the novel by Jean Genet
Main cast: Brad Davis (Midnight Express, Chariots of Fire), Jeanne Moreau (Jules and Jim, Diary of a Chambermaid), Franco Nero (Tristana, Django Unchained)
An Opinion or Two 