Querelle (1982)

Director:

Rainer Werner Fassbinder

Writers:

Jean Genet (novel)
Rainer Werner Fassbinder (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

8 September 1982 (France)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

It will take you into a surreal world of passion and sexuality, further than most would dare to go. [Video Australia]

Plot:

French sailor Querelle arrives in Brest and starts frequenting a strange whorehouse. He discovers that...

Plot Keywords:

Sailor | Brest | Harbor | Naval Uniform | Homosexual

Awards:

3 nominations

Cast

Brad Davis	...	Querelle
Franco Nero	...	Lieutenant Seblon
Jeanne Moreau	...	Lysiane
Laurent Malet	...	Roger Bataille
Hanno Pöschl	...	Robert / Gil
Günther Kaufmann	...	Nono
Burkhard Driest	...	Mario
Roger Fritz	...	Marcellin
Dieter Schidor	...	Vic Rivette
Natja Brunckhorst	...	Paulette
Robert van Ackeren	...	Betrunkener Legionär
Werner Asam	...	Arbeiter
Isolde Barth	...	Mädchen
Axel Bauer	...	Arbeiter
Neil Bell	...	Theo

Also Known As:

Querelle - Ein Pakt mit dem Teufel (Germany) (video title)
Querelle: A Film About Jean Genet's 'Querelle de Brest' (International: English title)

Runtime:

108 min

Country:

West Germany | France

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby (Dolby stereo)

Certification:

Italy:VM18 | Germany:16 (re-rating) | Australia:R | Portugal:M/18 | Argentina:18 | Finland:K-18 | France:-16 | Norway:18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R | West Germany:18

Filming Locations:

CCC-Atelier, Spandau, Berlin, Germany

Company:

Planet Film

Trivia:

Selected in competition at the 1982 Venice Film Festival. In that edition, the Golden Lion for best film went to 'Wim Wender''s Der Stand der Dinge (1982) much to the disgust of Marcel Carné, who withdrew from President of the Jury after releasing the following statement, that can still be seen printed at the beginning of the copies of Querelle circulating in Italy: " I would love to make a personal statement. While being President of the Jury, I would love to express my disappointment in not having been able to convince my colleagues to place R.W. Fassbinder's "Querelle" among the winners. As a matter of fact, I've found myself alone in defending the Movie. Nevertheless, I keep on thinking that, although controversial, R.W. Fassbinder final movie, want it or not, love it or hate it, will one day find its place in the HISTORY of CINEMA. Marcel Carné ".

Quotes:

Lysiane: [singing] Each man kills the thing he loves!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Man yan (2004)

Soundtrack:

Each Man Kills The Things He Loves

A Brilliant Flow Of Cinematic Poetry!

Translating Genet to film is certainly not an easy task since he cares relatively little as a writer for conventional plot and his storyline is essentially the baroque flow of feeling from his inner life. But this film does a masterful job of capturing all the subtle nuance of Genet's poetry in the flow of its' imagery. The mood is intensely introverted and philosophically existential throughout. The sets have the feel of the German Cinema around the time of THE CABINET OF DOCTOR CALIGARI, and yet the images flow around the angularity of the sets creating a wonderful tension between the characters and their milieu. This is Fassbinder at his very best. And the performance of Brad Davis is outstanding combining a rough, male-like crudeness with the innocence stemming from a young animal's eager naturalness. He creates a character who is forever trying to mask his simplicity, a kind of gothic Angel repeatedly discovering the Vampire stalking him from within. This is in keeping with Genet the writer who displays his suffering poetically, -like a tangle of gilded roses twined about a leper. The whole thing is a marvellous rendering of a kind of languidly sensuous celebration of the darker side of the male psyche. Since Brad Davis also appeared in THE PLAYER, we might say this film is like Huckleberry Finn meeting Nosferatu with a drunken Anne Rice as narrator. Bizarrly brilliant!