Querelle - When Violence And Sexuality Unite

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#RainerWernerFassbinder #Querelle #BradDavis
Querelle - When Violence And Sexuality Unite:
This week's video essay continues our celebration of queer cinema for Pride Month, as we examine cult German filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder's final film, released posthumously after his death at 37. A film steeped in homoerotic turmoil and violent betrayals, reflective of Fassbinder's own relationship history, Querelle is a fascinating examination of masculinity and sexual identity.
Source of Rosalind Hodgkiss' article: www.theguardia...
Source of Monika Treut's writing: bfidatadigipre...
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[@YouHaveBeenWatchingFilms]

What do you think about Querelle? How would you compare it to Rainer Werner Fassbinder's other films? Which films would you recommend similar to Querelle? Thanks for watching!

[@markwardel6751]

I saw this at the cinema when it first came out and blimey! ...my popcorn went everywhere!

[@rcogburn12]

Thank you for using the extremely mild expletive of blimey, little heard now in UK amid all the casual strong language, still use it myself, takes me back to gentler times!😂😂

[@markwardel6751]

@@rcogburn12 ha ha thank you my language is sadly not always so gentle

[@johnnzboy]

Great analysis of this delicious film. I read the book in my late teens and it was definitely a transgressive and horny eye-opener and pulse-raiser (well, pretty much like all of Genet's work) and I was frankly intoxicated when I subsequently saw the film, both at its lurid artificiality and the unashamed and brazen homo-masculinity on display - Fassbinder really manages to turn these desperate and brutal members of the demimonde into poignant antiheroes who cheat, fight and fuck with tragic, sweaty vitality. Unsurprisingly, I've been a huge fan of Fassbinder's ever since, he truly was an astoundingly prolific creative volcano whose early death robbed cinema of one of its master queer stylists.

[@mrtunapie6653]

I remember seeing this in theater many years ago and not quite knowing what to think of it. Back than, it was only known about through the gay grape-vine and I remember seeing many people walking out of the theater. I see it's now been given the Criterion Blu-ray treatment so I think I will buy it.

[@kazy8029]

I'm not gonna lie, I had to rewatch this video twice. I was ogling over all the men and lust. At first it was fine but leather on men hits my brain funny and then I realized I had tuned out for about 2 mins. On the second watch it got me interested in watching the film beyond the allure of gorgeous men. The whole experience reminded me of seeing a video on Derek Jarman's Sebastian. I'll watch this tonight though its tragic for a film to be made in what seems to a very rough time on the director. I am happy to find a director I never heard of even if it is bittersweet. Edit: Researching Rainer Werner Fassbinder was a bit of an eye opener. I'm still interested in the film and make my own opinion but oh my goodness.

[@YouHaveBeenWatchingFilms]

I wonder if it was my video on Jarman's Sebastiane, I covered that film a year ago 😀 (kzbin.info/www/bejne/poGqhISbd6enqposi=6ZkQZFG1sSn2g26_) I hope you enjoy the film! It's pretty exciting discovering Fassbinder's filmography for the first time, he managed to really churn out great film after great film in such a short span! I'd also recommend Fox And His Friends if you're seeking more destructive gay love stories, Fassbinder plays Fox himself and it's a film which earns its tragedy. 🙏 Thank you for watching!

[@kazy8029]

@@YouHaveBeenWatchingFilms oh, I've known about Sebastian for years though I did really enjoy your video on it. That 5 min slow motion nude make out scene was a pivotal moment in my gay awakening (I mean...woah, just oh my goodness). I'll probably watch Fox and His Friends sometime soon though I've been looking for more gay movies with happier endings lately. There are so many gay movies that end in misery or heartbreak. Recently I saw Straight-Jacket which was fun and kinda wanted to see more like it. Querelle was pretty interesting. My brain kept on thinking about Berry Manailow's Copacabana for how sweaty and sunset-y yet sunny everything looked (I thought the song was set in a Latin American country for years). The whole movie had this strange 30s style noir feel to it. By the end, part of me felt bad for Querelle by the end since he longed for a romantic connection yet it seems to be his nature to do anything to steal and cheat to get what he wants. One day he may mature a bit and finally stops being so selfish and shitty but can he at this point? Would he really want that? Then I saw the last moments and now I have to watch it again. Not just for the gorgeous hunk but what did I miss? Very good and strange movie

[@YouHaveBeenWatchingFilms]

That's wonderful that Sebastiane was such an important part of your gay awakening! If you're seeking more uplifting gay movies, Fox And His Friends is one to avoid then 😅. Not Fassbinder films, but I'd easily recommend Theo & Hugo, My Beautiful Laundrette, Beautiful Thing, and God's Own Country. Sometimes they touch upon sensitive topics, but each one ends on a positive or reassuring note. 😊 You're right about Querelle, it does have this 1930s style about it. I also hope Querelle might mature at some point in the future, he's so close to getting what he wants and he might be genuinely appreciative of it. He's an interesting character I feel because I don't necessarily "like" him for his actions, but I do feel sorry for him too. Thank you again for such a thoughtful response!

[@CristianVancaillie]

Sebastian first movie in Latin speaking... 😁

[@calvind2054]

O M G!!! Qurelle is the very first gay movie I ever watched when VHS tapes were available for rent. Inside a gay shop in DuPont Circle in DC, and curious, my bf and I decided to try renting a gay storyline movie for the first time. Qurelle was what we selected. Was truly shocked to see this, although, just a clip. But I absolutely hated that the entire clip was narrated even if the movie itself had very few to no scripted lines for the actors. And even without much of a script, it wasn’t hard to follow and understand every scene if you were aware of gay culture.

[@pisceanbeauty2503]

I can’t fully speak on the movie as I have not seen it, but I am unsettled when we depict acts of sexual violence as if they were consensual “rites of passage”. I know of too many people whose first sexual encounters of various kinds were coercive or unwanted in nature and who sometimes play them off as somehow just a part of life. It leaves me unsettled.

[@YouHaveBeenWatchingFilms]

Yes that's a very good point, and you're completely right to bring this up. I'm also sorry about the people you know who had these awful sexual encounters, I sadly people who have experiences like that too, and I understand that a film like this will be too upsetting to watch. Querelle does portray its sexuality with violence (and with coercion too), and it's certainly unnerving. It feels uncomfortably reflective of Fassbinder's own relationship with his muse El Hedi Ben Salem where both men didn't treat each other well, which is likely why this film walks its line between abuse and homoeroticism. I think it's fair if people want to skip this film (and possibly this video, I understand my descriptions get graphic in this video), and I hope my next video for Pride month will be more approachable. Thank you for watching 🙏

[@DGP653]

Consenting adults 😊

[@shaunmcgowan-d8u]

Id recommend ' the diary of a thief ', where abusive and controlling relationships are transmuted for the protagonist through a transcendent love. Great art should always be difficult.

[@GM-qq1wi]

I can only speak for myself and some friends whom I've spoken with about this. But when some of us use the term "rite of passage" or speak about our traumatic experiences as such, we are doing so somewhat ironically. The unfortunate and traumatic commonalities shared between many gay men almost insist upon themselves as "rites of passage" that we never asked for. It also underscores the historic and cross-cultural understanding that a "rite of passage" does not always infact denote a safe or consentual activity.

[@pisceanbeauty2503]

@@GM-qq1wi Thanks for sharing this perspective, it’s not one that immediately came to mind for me but it makes sense. I was responding more so to a kind of nonchalant attitude I’ve seen some take towards these experiences. I suppose it is a coping mechanism. I just bristle at the idea of abuse and violence being normalized, even if it is technically “normal”.

[@gustavowalther429]

Brad David ,talented,handsome ,sexy and beautiful man ❤❤❤. I'd love to see the whole film .

[@Armakk]

Difficult not to see this as a depressingly self-loathing suicide note from Fassbinder.

[@misery_of_mika]

Ah that’s a fascinating angle

[@fotiospantelios]

Great film 😊

[@Hoots_Maguire]

Querellle of Brest? More like Queerelle of Beast, am I right? (sorry, couldn't resist that one, I'll get me coat...) It's interesting how the times have changed in that the taboo part of this film in 1982 would have been the gay sex while the conflating of sex with violent abuse would have been seen as more or less saucy and unproblematic in another context. Compare with straight erotic thrillers of the same era like Body Heat (1984) Body Double (1984), Jagged Edge (1985), 9½ Weeks (1986), and Fatal Attraction (1987), all of which feature "rough sex" and some form of sexual-emotional coercion. Nowadays the gay sex and queer eroticism of the film would be seen as normal by most people but it's the mingling of rough sex on the boundary of abusive behaviour or even sexual assault that makes everyone uncomfortable. Which is a positive sign in that consensual relationships of any kind are acceptable but coercion is not. However, we mustn't judge this as if it's a realistic drama pushing an agenda for real-world behaviours. Of course the clearly theatrical staging seems to indicate that this is an erotic fantasy and never expected to be any kind of reference for the real world. Even for Genet, much closer to the real-world equivalent of all this, there was a hefty chunk of fantasy in his telling of the story. Must seek out this film, it's a good excuse to get on that Fassbinder retrospective that I've been promising myself. Again, apologies for the crappy pun.

[@YouHaveBeenWatchingFilms]

The pun is acceptable 😌 Yes you're right, it's positive to see how the shifting values over time will view the gay romanticism as acceptable, and the coercion of sex unacceptable - and you're right to acknowledge how this is a fantasy too. The sun never sets, the staging is fake, there isn't realism here, and with Fassbinder's own turbulent relationship this feels like his own fantasy through and through. I hope you enjoy this film and more of what Fassbinder offers, for such a short life he managed to make so many great films! I'm hoping in the future to cover more of his work, but 2 years ago I did cover his great gay tragedy Fox And His Friends (kzbin.info/www/bejne/i3-6nniljrSfpK8si=CqnJsuYBfYqUM-b_) which is a film I would easily recommend. 💖

[@CristianVancaillie]

I like : Tous les autres s'appellent Ali... ❤

[@privatelprivacy]

starring Franco Nero