Querelle Killed Me!

Rainer Werner Fassinbinder’s film Querelle was a real trip, for most viewers. He took the auidience into  a surreal, dreamlike land, called “Brest.” It was there that we met Querelle, a pouty lipped, enigma. Querelle worked as a sailor and his captain was in love with him; always watching and recording every mysterious move Querelle made.

The ship docked in Brest, where a brothel was located. So began the strange and intense story that unravels. Querelle looses a dice game, (secretly on purpose) to sleep with Nono, the Madame’s husband. Querlle was a thief and a murderer. What was interesting was that every time the characters in this film were having sex, there was always a layer of anger, uncertainty and discomfort attached. The Police man basically forced Querelle at knife point to give him a hand job.

There was a bizarre scene at the beginning where Querelle and his brother Robert embraced but then slowly punch each other in the stomach repeatedly. Robert also fought Querelle when he found out that his brother had anal sex with Nono, the proprietor of the brothel. There seemed to be much sexual confusion. At one moment, the men of Brest were very open about being gay and making love to a man and the next, they were shouting things like “I’m no fairy!” I was very confused because I didn’t understand how the men defined themselves and their sexuality.

The only lady of the film, Madame Lysiane was a sad character. She was not seen very much however her role was very important.  In my opinion, she loved many men in Brest but no one reciprocated that love back to her. Her husband, Nono had sex with Querelle and seemed to be very attached afterwards. Querelle did not notice that she existed and his brother Robert was too passionate about Querelle to give Lysiane what she needed. Lysiane was heard repeatedly singing “each man kills the thing he loves” at the bar. I believe that she feels very lonely and insignificant in this male dominated world.

There were a lot of things that happened in the  middle of the story, but this plot led no where. The characters and dialogue were poorly developed; in general this film did not do anything for me. Maybe the message was so intense and buried in symbols or maybe there was nothing to this film at all. Whatever the case may be, I did not enjoy this film at the slightest. I wished that I could have learned something from Querelle.

In the end, the captain confessed his love for Querelle. They kissed and set off back to the ship.