For pride month, straight critic Ben Miller takes a look back at a gay film he otherwise would have never seen
Watching Rainer Werner Fassbinder's Querelle during pride month, I caught myself being drawn into the idea of what pride means. The outward appearance of the gay community has constantly been perceived as unabashed confidence with "we're here and we're queer!" Living out and proud might be the goal, but it certainly wasn't something that happened for most gay people overnight.
Before the parades, representation, and getting to live your true self, there was loads of self-loathing. Fassbinder presents a world completely subservient to the idea of male-on-male pleasure, but still features no characters who want to admit anything about their own sexuality or what it means...
Frequently, a character does something overtly homosexual or even has sex, only to then immediately reject the idea of homosexuality.
Brad Davis stars at the titular George Querelle, a Belgian sailor who arrives in the harbor of Brest. He visits Feria, the bar and brother for sailors run by Lysiane (Jeanne Moreau), who has Querelle's brother Robert (Hanno Poschl) as a lover. Lysiane's husband Nono (Gunther Kaufmann) runs the more illicit practices of the bar while Mario (Burkhard Driest), the corrupt police captain, keeps things under control.
Querelle looks to sell opium to Nono and betrays his accomplice Vic (Dieter Schidor) by murdering him in the streets. Meanwhile, a ship builder Gil (also Poschl) murders a work mate and hides away with the help of Roger (Laurent Malet), who is in love with him. Querelle discovers Gil as well his likeness to Robert. Gil and Querelle begin to explore their love, but Querelle's quest for power leads him elsewhere.
Even in this sun-bathed world of pleasure, complete with phallic statues and willing partners, these characters reject the idea or the label of being gay. The only female character of note can be slept with as long as you play a game of chance with her husband who will sleep with you if you lose. Nono does not consider himself gay, and Lysaine is openly against any gay people. This is a world of contradictions and hypocrisy.
Querelle is much more focused on the idea of ecstasy, positive or otherwise. Whether it's the joy of sex, the feeling of power, or even the conquest over a foe, these characters are all driven by desire. The titular character is a murderer, drug smuggler, and fiend. His relationships are either transactional or borne out of morbid curiosity. The main character being an entirely lithesome personality is not one you usually see in films. He is almost completely unrepentant of any of his actions, while his only redeeming quality is his beauty.
This is where Fassbinder has something he wants to say. In a world of crooked morality where everyone has an angle and everyone is looking to corrupt or swindle someone else, the ones who get away with it are the ones who radiate desire in others. Querelle's murderous ways are not exactly subtle, but the only one who could point the finger at him is his Lieutenant Seblon (Franco Nero), who is madly in love with him. It's the epitome of desire over logic. These characters give way to their desires to completely overwhelm any other instinct they have. It's all pleasure that will eventually lead to destruction.
It's not exactly a subtle film. The aforementioned phallic towers don't leave much room for ambiguity. Fassbinder hides the subtext under layers of obvious intention. The bright oranges and the deep blues obscure the subtle intricacies of the narrative, while still leaving plenty to feast on for the eyes. That feast extends to the cast, with Davis specifically oiled and styled in a way to entice. His comically slutty tank top showing 90% of his chest, while the first half of the film features him mostly shirtless.
Each performance stands apart while lending itself to Fassbinder's vision of this story. Davis, Poschl, Kaufmann and others fully commit to the bit, without giving the audience the faintest bit of hesitation for the on-screen content. That content seems pretty tame compared to other films, but any positive depiction of gay sex in the 1980s would prove to be controversial. Nudity is implied without being explicit. Sexual acts are portrayed mostly clothed. The most graphic thing the film has to offer is the voiceover narration describing some of the sex and the character thoughts.
It's a fascination to have a film like Querelle come across as so against being out and proud. It just goes to show how shut off the world was at the time to where the most overtly gay film can still attempt to supress itself.
Note: I want to thank you all for coming along with me with this feature for pride month. I appreciate you tolerating my straightness/ignorance as I talked about these films and I hope your pride extends past June 30th. Happy Pride!
Previous episodes:
Bad Education
Stranger by the Lake
Princess Cyd