On 19 May 2022, and for four very different but equally relevant reasons, I finally watched the famous English-language Franco-German art-house movie now under review here – Querelle.
Firstly, Querelle stars Brad Davis, who had previously blown me away with the sheer strength and depth of his performance in the lead role for his first big film, Midnight Express (1978), so I was eager to see him again in a starring role (especially as there are so few of them, due to his tragically early death aged only 41). Secondly, having heard tell that Querelle was not only the acclaimed (yet once again tragically short-lived) German film director Rainer Werner Fassbinder's last film (released posthumously, a few weeks after his death aged just 37) but also his most controversial one, I was naturally curious to see it. Thirdly, I'd read that Querelle's title character is very reminiscent in nature to the one in a movie that I’d watched and enjoyed not very long ago, so again I was intrigued to see how this played out on screen. Fourthly, I'd purchased Querelle a fair while ago as an ex-rental big box video along with several others, but had never got around to watching any of them, so I decided that it was high time that I did (I'll be viewing and then reviewing all of them in due course here), and began doing so with this one. So without further ado, here are my thoughts about Querelle.
Directed as already noted by Reiner Werner Fassbinder, based upon Jean Genet's 1947 novel Querelle of Brest, and released in 1982 by Scotia/Gaumont, Querelle stars Brad Davis as its title character, Georges Querelle, a young Belgian sailor who is spending an evening's leave ashore in and around La Feria, an infamously seedy bar and brothel in the port of Brest, in Brittany, north-western France. After unexpectedly meeting his brother Robert there, Querelle whiles away the hours drinking, fighting, and sexually indulging himself with whoever he attracts or is attracted to, woman or man, while also seeking actively and wholly amorally to promote his illicit opium smuggling and selling business.
Querelle has no scruples whatsoever in duping or manipulating those around him to his own advantage. And even if he should indulge in a spot of casual murder, which he does, he is perfectly at ease in framing one of his hapless devotees in order to extricate himself from the dangerous situation that results.
Watching this twisted but taut storyline gradually unfold, against a visually sumptuous sunset backdrop that illuminates every outdoor scene throughout the movie, as fiery and blazingly brazen as Querelle himself, I realized that what I'd read about Querelle was certainly true. That is, its theme was indeed reminiscent of a certain movie that I'd lately seen – namely, the 1999 Hollywood adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's original novel, The Talented Mr Ripley (click here to read my review of this movie, and also of a much earlier, French film adaptation of it entitled Purple Noon).
Starring Matt Damon in the title role, The Talented Mr Ripley focuses upon a superficially charming low-life chancer, Tom Ripley, whose inimical 'talents' – including innate cunning, sexual ambivalence, total absence of a conscience, and ready willingness to do whatever it takes, including murder, to accrue the wealth and high standing in society that he has never earned legitimately yet nonetheless feels is rightfully his – are all exhibited by Querelle too. The settings may be different, so too the circumstances, but at the rotten, decadent core of both of these compelling movies' storylines is the selfsame ruthless example of humanity at its least humane.
As in Midnight Express, Brad Davis provides a spellbinding, passionate performance as the sensual, duplicitous Querelle, inexorably oozing an oleaginous but toxic mixture of insouciance and insincerity from every pore. He even affects a phony James Dean lookalike pose at times (see photo at the end of this review). French actress/singer Jeanne Moreau co-stars as Querelle's cruelly spurned lover Lysiane, who also sings the sultry Marlene Dietrichesque number 'Each Man Kills The Thing He Loves' (click here to watch and listen to it performed by her in this movie).
Well worth noting too is the balletic fight scene between two knife-wielding combatants that almost looks as if it has danced straight out of West Side Story. And stylistically this movie was inspired to no small extent by the erotic artwork of none other than Tom of Finland. However, it was the frank portrayals of Querelle's sexual dalliances (albeit very tame by today's much raunchier mainstream cinematic standards) that engendered some controversy for this film at the time of its original release back in 1982, but it is easy to understand why critics and movie audiences alike nowadays rate it as one of Fassbinder's most noteworthy movies. As for the vibrant and vivid cinematography of Xaver Schwarzenberger, this is truly beyond gorgeous – an absolutely glorious palette of spectacular colour in every frame..
So, if you'd like to view an official Querelle trailer, please click here to watch one on YouTube.
Finally: to view a complete chronological listing of all of my Shuker In MovieLand blog's other film reviews and articles (each one instantly accessible via a direct clickable link), please click HERE, and please click HERE to view a complete fully-clickable alphabetical listing of them.
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