Querelle (1982)

Querelle: Directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder. With Brad Davis, Franco Nero, Jeanne Moreau, Laurent Malet. A handsome sailor is drawn into a vortex of sibling rivalry, murder, and explosive sexuality.

“German director Rainer Werner Fassbinderu0026#39;s final film before his untimely death at the age of 37 from a drug overdose of cocaine and sleeping pills. Adapted from the novel u0026quot;Querelle De Brestu0026quot; by Jean Genet the film is a visually striking surrealistic homoerotic fable which starred the late bisexual American actor Brad Davis who was tragically ravaged by AIDS and died at the age of 41 some nine years after this filmu0026#39;s release by assisted suicide. The highly stylized film concerns a handsome muscular amoral French sailor named Georges Querelle, played brilliantly by Brad Davis who injects a raw and animistic complexity into role, comes to terms was his latent homosexuality when his ship docks in the coastal town of Brest, and he makes his way to a local brothel which is run by Madame Lysiane, superbly played by the late great Jeanne Moreau, whose lover is Querelleu0026#39;s brother Robert, well played by Hanno Poschi, whom he has an odd love-hate relationship with. During his time in the coastal town Querelle will become a murderer and a magnet for a bunch of unsavory characters whom he meets for rough gay sex. Franco Nero nicely plays an officer from Querelleu0026#39;s ship that is enamored with and worships him secretly from afar, and records his feelings on tape. Good direction by Fassbinder with impressive cinematography by Xaver Schwarzenberger and Josef Vavra. A disturbing art-house motion picture which is not for all tastes.”