By
Updated 4 weeks ago,April 4, 2025
The director ofCall Me By Your NameandChallengersis known for exploring themes of sexual fluidity and discovery in his films, and as the name implies,Queeris no exception.
Based on the unfinished and semi-autobiographical novella by William S. Burroughs, the film earned Daniel Craig nominations for the Golden Globe, Critics Choice, and Screen Actors Guild awards for his performance as expat William Lee, a man combating loneliness in 1950s Mexico by using travel, drugs, alcohol, and younger men as his coping mechanisms of choice.
Lee becomes enamored and obsessed with GI Eugene Allerton, with whom he begins a relationship, and departs with on a journey to South America in search of the yage plant, known for possessing telepathic abilities.
Queer
The film delves into themes of psychedelics and the eternal struggle to connect physically and emotionally with another human being.
Guadagnino doesnt shy away from explicit sex scenes in this project, as compared to previous choices to pan-away when his lead characters consummate their relationship.
One notable scene, occurring within Lees dream sequence, mirrors the game of William Tell in which Burroughs once claimed to have shot and killed his second wife, Joan Vollmer, later admitting to investigators that his pistol fell and hit a table while showing it to friends, accidentally shooting Vollmer in the process.
Regardless of the actual truth, the surrounding myth weaves its way into the narrative, much like Lees experiences with Allerton haunt him long after the pair part ways, but what else would you expect from a queer love story set in the 1950s except a tragic ending?
