Luca Guadagnino’s Queer (2024) begins with the main character, Lee (Daniel Craig), speaking directly to the audience as he states, “You’re not queer.” These past three months since the film’s release in theaters, I have not stopped thinking about this opening. Following its release on Max, I finally allowed myself to ponder why.
What is “queer?” In Guadagnino’s film, the term means more than just sexual orientation. As we journey through Lee and Eugene’s (Drew Starkey) relationship and learn their individual struggles, queer becomes a state of being. It becomes the loneliness that creeps up on you even when surrounded by others. It becomes the lives we could have lived.
The film follows Lee, an expatriate living in Mexico, as he seeks connections with other gay men around him. Along this journey, he meets and is immediately drawn to Eugene, an enigmatic young man. The two spark up a friendship, which eventually builds into a sexual relationship. Together, they journey into the jungle of South America in search of ayahuasca. Lee hopes the drug will grant them telepathic abilities.
It is a straightforward plot but interspersed throughout the film are drug-induced dream sequences and psychedelic imagery that may confound some viewers. Nonetheless, they are vital to understanding Lee’s mental state.
It is, in simplistic terms, a movie you must feel. This is what it means to be queer and what Guadagnino excels at translating through the medium. He understands what film allows one the ability to do– to communicate without words, to capture an emotion. Dissociation is shown in a static version of Lee slowly slipping into oblivion. A ghost image of Lee’s hand caressing Eugene’s face is overlaid on a scene to illustrate his desire and longing.
In one pivotal scene, Lee injects heroin, and Guadagnino shoots this as an extended long shot. He lingers on Lee’s face as a cloud of cigarette smoke fills the air around him. He utilizes several powerful needle drops throughout the film, but most notable in this sequence is his choice of New Order’s Leave Me Alone.
The lyrics “On a thousand islands in the sea, I see a thousand people just like me” play as we sit alone with Lee. There is a sense of togetherness through the universality of our loneliness. But then later, the lyrics plead to be left alone, stating, “You get these words wrong.”
Eugene and Lee are united in their struggles. Each finds their own ways to self-harm, through addiction or denial of self, but they both continue to seek out the other, fueled by this desire for real connection. But articulating this is not easy. Both Lee and Eugene struggle to speak their feelings for the other and allow themselves to be completely vulnerable.
At one point, Lee tells Eugene, “I want to talk to you without speaking.” This is something he believes ayahuasca can provide. Through the drug, one can be fully known and understood without the need for words. You can bear your heart to another– quite literally in Queer with a striking visual of Lee and Eugene’s hearts expelled from their body.
In one of the most intimate scenes I have ever seen on screen, Lee’s theory is proven correct, and he and Eugene achieve full understanding through the drug. Guadagnino uses a mesmerizing choreographed sequence that blends Eugene and Lee’s bodies. There is no telling where one person ends and the other begins.
However, this open vulnerability with another requires one to be honest with themselves. Tim Kreider once wrote, “If we want the rewards of being loved, we have to submit to the mortifying ordeal of being known.” Eugene must confront his identity through his relationship with Lee, and it terrifies him. He turns away from the life he could have with Lee. He is, as he says, not queer.
The true connection they eclipse together at that moment becomes a haunting memory. Queer becomes the lives we could live, the pathways we’re unable to walk down out of fear, or simply a missed opportunity. It becomes not only the self-acceptance and love we could give ourselves but also the willingness to live life fully and honestly.
Queer is many things–love, identity, connection, a life wasted. It offers something unique to each viewer depending on their personal struggles if only you have the courage to allow it. Open the door; don’t look away.
Review Courtesy of Kam Ryan
Feature Image Courtesy of Yannis Drakoulidis/A24 via Dazed