Querelle (1983)
Runtime: 1 hr 50 mins
Synopsis: Based on Jean Genet's novel, QUERELLE marked the end of the controversial directorial career of Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Brimming with often graphic gay imagery and themes, it tells the story of Querelle (Brad Davis, MIDNIGHT EXPRESS), a sexually swaggering sailor and drug trafficker on... Based on Jean Genet's novel, QUERELLE marked the end of the controversial directorial career of Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Brimming with often graphic gay imagery and themes, it tells the story of Querelle (Brad Davis, MIDNIGHT EXPRESS), a sexually swaggering sailor and drug trafficker on a pass in the port of Brest in pursuit of sexual gratification. In a brothel, he is reunited with his brother Robert and makes the acquaintance of Robert's lover Lysiane (Jeanne Moreau) and her brooding husband Nono. Querelle later mysteriously murders another man, pinning the blame on known homosexual Gil. But when Querelle finds himself in a sexual relationship with Gil, his dangerous circumstance becomes even more complicated. Critically savaged (and possibly misunderstood) upon its 1983 release, Fassbinder's swan song offers a uniquely surreal and dreamlike tone, offering a wealth of fascinating imagery to the adventurous viewer. [More]
Genre: Foreign Films
Starring: Brad Davis, Jeanne Moreau, Franco Nero, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Burkhard Driest
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Reviews
Because the film is an experiment, it often seems disjointed or incomprehensible, but more than anything it marks a radical turning point in narrative filmmaking.
It's probably worth a look only for Fassbinder's most die-hard fans.
Except for some things that Miss Moreau does, Querelle is not only humorless but also uncharacteristically witless.
Doubtless not a masterpiece, the movie nevertheless puts words, sounds, and images on screen, with welcome creative energy, that have never paraded there before -- or, if in fact they're always on screen, never before so openly.
. . . as much an attack on Fassbinder’s own body of work as it is an attack on the conventions of sexual identity in film.


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