Queer
クィア／QUEER
Storyline
The whole story, ending included.
An American expat in 1950s Mexico City fixates on a younger man; ayahuasca, longing and Daniel Craig undone.
Mexico City, around 1950. William Lee, an American who fled a drugs charge at home and lives on family money, passes his days in the expatriate bars, drinking, using and picking up young men. One evening he sees Eugene Allerton, a young ex-serviceman, and is struck. He pursues him from bar to bar, wins his friendship and then his bed, but Allerton keeps his distance, is often seen with a woman, and tells Lee he does not think of himself as queer the way Lee is.
Lee has read of yagé, a jungle plant said to grant telepathy, and asks Allerton to come with him to South America to find it. Allerton, reluctant, agrees. On the road Lee goes into withdrawal, and Allerton is the only one who can calm his shaking. They sleep together, and afterwards the young man seems further away than ever. In the jungle near Quito they find Dr Cotter, an American botanist, who distrusts Lee until she sees that what he really wants is a way into Allerton's mind, and she brews the drink for them. Under its spell the two men vomit up their hearts, speak without words and melt into one body. Allerton tells him he is not queer but disembodied. Dr Cotter invites them to stay; Allerton, shaken, wants to leave, and on the way back they part.
Two years later Lee returns to Mexico City and learns that Allerton went to South America as a guide to an army colonel and has not been heard from since. In a dream Lee finds him in the next hotel room. Allerton balances a glass on his head and invites Lee to shoot it. Lee shoots him in the forehead and holds the body until it vanishes, and then vanishes himself. In the last scene Lee is an old man, alone and trembling on a hotel bed, and a still-young Allerton lies down beside him and calms him.
Starring
Daniel Craigas William Lee
An American drug user in exile in 1950s Mexico City, a version of Burroughs himself, who falls hopelessly for a younger man.
William Lee’s story
Lee lives on family money in Mexico City, picking up young men in the expatriate bars, until the sight of Eugene Allerton stops him. He follows him from bar to bar, wins his friendship and then his bed, and suffers each time Allerton keeps his distance. He persuades him to come to South America for yagé, hoping it will let him into Allerton's mind; in withdrawal on the road, only Allerton can calm his shaking. In the jungle, under the drug, they melt into one body, and Allerton says he is not queer but disembodied. They part. Two years later Lee hears that Allerton has vanished, and in a dream shoots him. At the end Lee is old and trembling alone on a hotel bed, and a still-young Allerton lies down beside him.
Drew Starkeyas Eugene Allerton
A young ex-serviceman in Mexico City who accepts Lee's attention but will not let himself be known.
Eugene Allerton’s story
Allerton, a young ex-serviceman, lets Lee pursue him, drink with him and pay his way, and sleeps with him, but will not call himself queer and is often seen with a woman. He agrees, reluctantly, to go to South America for yagé. On the road he alone can calm Lee's withdrawal; after they sleep together, he seems further away than ever. In the jungle, under the drug, he tells Lee he is not queer but disembodied. Shaken, he refuses Dr Cotter's invitation to stay, and they part on the way back. Two years later Joe tells Lee that Allerton went south with an army colonel and has not been heard from since. In Lee's dream he balances a glass on his head and is shot; at the end, still young, he lies beside the old man and calms him.
Jason Schwartzmanas Joe Guidry
Lee's friend from the expatriate bars, who has the news of Allerton when Lee comes back.
Lesley Manvilleas Dr Cotter
An American botanist living deep in the Ecuadorian jungle, who brews the yagé for the two men.
Why it matters
Queer is about a man who wants to be known completely by someone who does not want to be known at all. William Burroughs wrote the novel between 1951 and 1953, drawing on his own life in Mexico City, and it was not published until 1985; it was left unfinished, and Luca Guadagnino's film gives it an ending. Its subjects are desire without reciprocity, the loneliness of a gay man who can be himself only in certain bars, and addiction as another shape of need. The dream in which Lee shoots Allerton recalls the death of Burroughs's wife, Joan Vollmer, whom he killed in Mexico City in 1951 in what he at first claimed was a drunken game of William Tell. Daniel Craig won the National Board of Review's best actor prize for the role, and the film was banned in Turkey. What it leaves is the ache of wanting to live inside another person's mind.