In “Queer” Luca Guadagnino once more explores the themes of love, lust and longing in this trippy and surreal story of unsynchronized love. Daniel Craig shines as our love hungry protagonist who desperately craves human connection from the one person who can’t give it to him.
Von Lessika Landao; Bild: © Filmstarts
Luca Guadagnino’s movies regularly take social media by storm. Whether it’s the romantic drama „Call Me By Your Name“ (2017) or the sports drama „Challengers“ (2024), Guadagnino has managed to establish himself as part of Gen Z’s zeitgeist like perhaps no other director. In his latest movie, Guadagnino adapts „Queer“, the unfinished, semi-autobiographical novel of the same title by William S. Burroughs, originally written in 1952 but only published in 1985.
„Queer“ follows the story of William Lee (Daniel Craig), a disheveled middle-aged American, who is transposed to Mexico City. William goes by Lee and spends his time seemingly unemployed and absent of a hobby, either killing time in a bar with his friend or alone, roaming the streets of Mexico City while drunk and/or high on opiates in search of intimacy. The plot is propelled once he locks eyes with Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey), an American Adonis, as he walks past a cockfight. Lee immediately becomes infatuated with Eugene, and embarrassingly, yet relentlessly, courts him. While Eugene eventually reciprocates Lee’s feelings, the extent of this reciprocity remains unclear. As Lee attempts to connect with Eugene, Eugene progressively draws away from Lee in a game of cat and mouse. In a last bid to connect, Lee invites Eugene on a trip to the Ecuadorian jungle to find ayahuasca, a drug that supposedly allows consumers to connect on a telepathic level.
A tale of unsynchronized love 
„Queer“ depicts Lee’s search, discovery, and loss of love. In spite of his patheticness, his craving and search for love (complicated by the fact that he must first decipher whether potential love interests are also homosexual) is earnest and heartbreakingly universal, nearly exclusively due to Craig’s performance. As the object of Lee’s desire, Eugene mostly remains a mirage to Lee and to the audience.
We spend the movie wondering whether Eugene reciprocates Lee’s affection, and at the end know nothing definitive about his background, his thoughts or desires, aside from the fact that he is a veteran. While Starkey gives an impressive performance as the unattainable, elusive Eugene, his character inevitably pales in contrast to Craig’s Lee due to the thin characterization and secondary perspective of his character. The sex scenes reflect the ambivalent nature of their relationship: in one instance, Eugene initiates, while at a later occasion, he physically shoves Lee away from him. This dynamic leads us to wonder: Why can’t Eugene give in to Lee? Why can’t Lee break away from Eugene? Why can’t these two either get together or stay apart? „Queer“ is, as Guadagnino put it, a story of unsynchronized love.
Surrealism and artificiality
The production design and the warm, bright cinematography believably recreate Mexico City in the 1950s, making it feel like a lived-in place with its various bars, streets, and architecture. This is contrasted to an air of artificiality, as miniatures and CGI are used to depict a plane taking off, a snake lunging at characters or gigantic eyes looking into a house („Queer“ was shot almost entirely on soundstages at the Cinecittà Studios, the historic film studio in Rome).
The anachronistic soundtrack underlines this artistic decision to opt for style over historical accuracy, as songs by Nirvana, Sinéad O’Connor and Prince are played. „Queer“, however, is most notable for its surrealist elements that are used to explore Lee’s subconscious, as we see his ghost hand reaching out to caress Eugene or enter a dream of his in which a woman’s naked body rotates on a table as Lee declares “I’m not queer, I’m disembodied”.
In „Queer“, Luca Guadagnino once more explores the themes of love, lust and longing through the characters of Lee and Eugene, who both seek to connect to one another yet are ultimately unable to. It is only once they have drugged themselves and have figuratively vomited their hearts out that they find each other and even then, only fleetingly. Though „Queer“ overstays its welcome with its epilogue, its exploration of a failed love is a rewarding watch, though its surrealist elements might prove too cryptic for viewers expecting more of „Challengers“ straightforwardness.
„Queer“ premiered at the 81st Venice International Film Festival in 2024 where it was nominated for the Golden Lion. „Queer“ can be seen in German cinemas starting January 2, 2025 and is distributed by Mubi.
