Querelle
Encyclopedia
Querelle, a 1982 film directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder
, adapted from French
author Jean Genet
's 1947 novel Querelle de Brest. It marked Fassbinder's final film as a writer/director; it was posthumously released just months after the director died of a drug overdose in June 1982.
(Brad Davis
), who is also a thief and murderer. When his ship, the Vengeur, arrives in Brest
, he visits the Feria, a bar and brothel for sailors run by the madame Lysiane (Jeanne Moreau
), whose lover Robert is Querelle's brother. Querelle has a passionate love/hate relationship with his brother; when they meet at La Feria, they embrace, but also punch one another slowly and repeatedly in the belly. Lysiane's husband Nono (Günther Kaufmann
) tends bar and manages La Feria's underhanded affairs with the assistance of his friend, the corrupt police captain Mario.
Querelle makes a deal to sell opium
to Nono, and murders his accomplice Vic. After delivering the drugs, Querelle announces that he wants to sleep with Lysiane. He knows that this means he will have to throw dice with Nono, who, as Lysiane's husband, has the privilege of playing a game of chance with all of her prospective lovers. If Nono loses, the suitor is allowed to proceed with his affair. If the suitor loses, however, he must submit to anal sex
with Nono first. "That way, I can say my wife only sleeps with assholes," Nono says. Querelle deliberately loses the game, allowing himself to be sodomized
by Nono. When Nono gloats about Querelle's "loss" to Robert, who won his dice game, the brothers end up in a violent fight. Later, Querelle becomes Lysiane's lover, and also has sex with Mario.
Luckily for Querelle, a construction worker called Gil murders his coworker Theo, who had been harassing and sexually assaulting
him. Gil is also considered to be the murderer of Vic. Gil hides from the police in an abandoned prison, and Roger, who is in love with Gil, establishes contact between Querelle and Gil in the hopes that Querelle can help Gil flee.
Querelle falls in love with Gil, who closely resembles his brother (they are played by the same actor). Gil returns his affections, but Querelle betrays Gil by tipping off the police. Querelle had cleverly arranged it so that his murder of Vic is also blamed on Gil.
In parallel there is a plot line concerning Querelle's superior, Lieutenant Seblon (Franco Nero
), who is in love with Querelle, and constantly tries to prove his manliness to him. Seblon is aware that Querelle murdered Vic, but chooses to protect him. Near the end of the film, Seblon reveals his love and concern to a drunken Querelle, and they kiss and embrace before returning to Le Vengeur.
, Querelle was originally going to be made by Werner Schroeter
, with a scenario by Burkhard Driest, and produced by Dieter Schidor. However, Schidor could not find the money to finance a film by Schroeter, and therefore turned to other directors, including John Schlesinger
and Sam Peckinpah
, before finally settling on Fassbinder. Driest wrote a radically different script for Fassbinder, who then "took the linear narrative and jumbled it up." White quotes Schidor as saying, "Fassbinder did something totally different, he took the words of Genet and tried to meditate on something other than the story. The story became totally unimportant for him. He also said publicly that the story was a sort of third-rate police story that wouldn't be worth making a movie about without putting a particular moral impact into it."
Schroeter had wanted to make a black and white film with amateur actors and location shots, but Fassbinder instead shot it with professional actors in a lurid, expressionist color, and on sets in the studio. White comments that the result is a film in which, "Everything is bathed in an artificial light and the architectural elements are all symbolic."
Both songs were nominated to the 1984 Razzie Awards for "Worst Original Song"
Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Rainer Werner Maria Fassbinder was a German movie director, screenwriter and actor. He is considered one of the most important representatives of the New German Cinema.He maintained a frenetic pace in film-making...
, adapted from French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
author Jean Genet
Jean Genet
Jean Genet was a prominent and controversial French novelist, playwright, poet, essayist, and political activist. Early in his life he was a vagabond and petty criminal, but later took to writing...
's 1947 novel Querelle de Brest. It marked Fassbinder's final film as a writer/director; it was posthumously released just months after the director died of a drug overdose in June 1982.
Plot
The plot centres on the handsome sailor Georges QuerelleGeorges Querelle
Georges "Jo" Querelle is the protagonist and antihero of Jean Genet's 1947 novel Querelle de Brest.-Character overview:A sailor on the cargo ship Le Vengeur, Querelle is also a thief, a prostitute, an opium smuggler, and a serial killer...
(Brad Davis
Brad Davis (actor)
Robert Creel "Brad" Davis was an American actor, known for starring in the 1978 film Midnight Express.-Early life:...
), who is also a thief and murderer. When his ship, the Vengeur, arrives in Brest
Brest, France
Brest is a city in the Finistère department in Brittany in northwestern France. Located in a sheltered position not far from the western tip of the Breton peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French military port after Toulon...
, he visits the Feria, a bar and brothel for sailors run by the madame Lysiane (Jeanne Moreau
Jeanne Moreau
Jeanne Moreau is a French actress, singer, screenwriter and director.She made her theatrical debut in 1947, and established herself as one of the leading actresses of the Comédie-Française...
), whose lover Robert is Querelle's brother. Querelle has a passionate love/hate relationship with his brother; when they meet at La Feria, they embrace, but also punch one another slowly and repeatedly in the belly. Lysiane's husband Nono (Günther Kaufmann
Günther Kaufmann
Günther Kaufmann is a German film actor best known for his association with director Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Fassbinder directed Kaufmann in a total of 14 films, casting him in a variety of leading and minor roles...
) tends bar and manages La Feria's underhanded affairs with the assistance of his friend, the corrupt police captain Mario.
Querelle makes a deal to sell opium
Opium
Opium is the dried latex obtained from the opium poppy . Opium contains up to 12% morphine, an alkaloid, which is frequently processed chemically to produce heroin for the illegal drug trade. The latex also includes codeine and non-narcotic alkaloids such as papaverine, thebaine and noscapine...
to Nono, and murders his accomplice Vic. After delivering the drugs, Querelle announces that he wants to sleep with Lysiane. He knows that this means he will have to throw dice with Nono, who, as Lysiane's husband, has the privilege of playing a game of chance with all of her prospective lovers. If Nono loses, the suitor is allowed to proceed with his affair. If the suitor loses, however, he must submit to anal sex
Anal sex
Anal sex is the sex act in which the penis is inserted into the anus of a sexual partner. The term can also include other sexual acts involving the anus, including pegging, anilingus , fingering, and object insertion.Common misconception describes anal sex as practiced almost exclusively by gay men...
with Nono first. "That way, I can say my wife only sleeps with assholes," Nono says. Querelle deliberately loses the game, allowing himself to be sodomized
Sodomy
Sodomy is an anal or other copulation-like act, especially between male persons or between a man and animal, and one who practices sodomy is a "sodomite"...
by Nono. When Nono gloats about Querelle's "loss" to Robert, who won his dice game, the brothers end up in a violent fight. Later, Querelle becomes Lysiane's lover, and also has sex with Mario.
Luckily for Querelle, a construction worker called Gil murders his coworker Theo, who had been harassing and sexually assaulting
Sexual assault
Sexual assault is an assault of a sexual nature on another person, or any sexual act committed without consent. Although sexual assaults most frequently are by a man on a woman, it may involve any combination of two or more men, women and children....
him. Gil is also considered to be the murderer of Vic. Gil hides from the police in an abandoned prison, and Roger, who is in love with Gil, establishes contact between Querelle and Gil in the hopes that Querelle can help Gil flee.
Querelle falls in love with Gil, who closely resembles his brother (they are played by the same actor). Gil returns his affections, but Querelle betrays Gil by tipping off the police. Querelle had cleverly arranged it so that his murder of Vic is also blamed on Gil.
In parallel there is a plot line concerning Querelle's superior, Lieutenant Seblon (Franco Nero
Franco Nero
Franco Nero is an Italian actor.-Early life:Nero was born Francesco Sparanero in San Prospero Parmense , the son of a sergeant in the...
), who is in love with Querelle, and constantly tries to prove his manliness to him. Seblon is aware that Querelle murdered Vic, but chooses to protect him. Near the end of the film, Seblon reveals his love and concern to a drunken Querelle, and they kiss and embrace before returning to Le Vengeur.
Cast list
- Brad DavisBrad Davis (actor)Robert Creel "Brad" Davis was an American actor, known for starring in the 1978 film Midnight Express.-Early life:...
as Querelle - Franco NeroFranco NeroFranco Nero is an Italian actor.-Early life:Nero was born Francesco Sparanero in San Prospero Parmense , the son of a sergeant in the...
as Lieutenant Seblon - Jeanne MoreauJeanne MoreauJeanne Moreau is a French actress, singer, screenwriter and director.She made her theatrical debut in 1947, and established herself as one of the leading actresses of the Comédie-Française...
as Lysiane - Laurent MaletLaurent MaletLaurent Marie Guespin-Malet is a French actor, and the twin brother of actor Pierre Malet.-Life:...
as Roger Bataille - Hanno PöschlHanno PöschlHanno Pöschl is an Austrian actor.Pöschl has enjoyed a long and prolific career working with directors Maximilian Schell, Peter Patzak, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Paulus Manker, Richard Linklater, and Götz Spielmann...
as Robert / Gil - Günther KaufmannGünther KaufmannGünther Kaufmann is a German film actor best known for his association with director Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Fassbinder directed Kaufmann in a total of 14 films, casting him in a variety of leading and minor roles...
as Nono - Burkhard Driest as Mario
- Roger Fritz as Marcellin
- Dieter Schidor as Vic Rivette
- Natja BrunckhorstNatja BrunckhorstNatja Brunckhorst is a German film actress.She is mostly known for her role as Christiane F. in the drama Christiane F. - Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo....
as Paulette - Robert van AckerenRobert van AckerenRobert van Ackeren is a German movie director, actor, producer, writer and cinematographer, born in 22 December 1946, West Berlin, West Germany.-Filmography :* Deutschland privat - Im Land der bunten Träume...
as Drunken legionnaire - Werner AsamWerner AsamWerner Asam is a German television actor, director, and writer.He played several roles in Derrick during the 80's and 90's.-Selected filmography:* Derrick - Season 5, Episode 4: "Ein Hinterhalt"...
as Worker - Isolde Barth as Girl
- Axel BauerAxel BauerAxel Bauer is a French singer.In 2001, his duet with French singer Zazie, "À ma place", reached number four on the French charts.-Biography:...
as Worker - Neil BellNeil Bell (actor)Neil Bell is a British actor, mainly on UK TV and in occasional films.Bell studied drama at Oldham College and has played character roles in such TV series as Buried, Shameless, Murphy's Law, Ideal, City Lights, The Bill and Casualty, and the films 24 Hour Party People and Dead Man's Shoes...
as Theo - Gilles Gavois as Sailor
- Wolf GremmWolf GremmWolf Gremm is a German film director and screenwriter.In the 1960s he studied German literature, psychology, sociology and theater. After graduation he studied film direction at the Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin and directed his first feature film Ich dachte, ich wär tot in 1973...
as Drunken legionnaire - Karl-Heinz von Hassel as Worker
- Y Sa Lo as Girl
- Michael McLernon as Sailor
- Frank RipplohFrank RipplohFrank Ripploh was a German actor, film director, and author. He is best remembered for his semi-autobiographical 1981 movie Taxi zum Klo. The film, produced on a shoestring budget of 100,000 DM, explored the day-to-day life of a Berlin schoolteacher who also led a very active gay sex life...
as Drunken legionnaire - Karl Scheydt as Sailor
- Vitus Zeplichal as Worker
Production history
According to Edmund WhiteEdmund White
Edmund Valentine White III is an American author and literary critic. He is a member of the faculty of Princeton University's Program in Creative Writing.- Life and work :...
, Querelle was originally going to be made by Werner Schroeter
Werner Schroeter
Werner Schroeter was a German film director and screenwriter, who some consider among the most important German writer-directors of the post-war period.-Biography:...
, with a scenario by Burkhard Driest, and produced by Dieter Schidor. However, Schidor could not find the money to finance a film by Schroeter, and therefore turned to other directors, including John Schlesinger
John Schlesinger
John Richard Schlesinger, CBE was an English film and stage director and actor.-Early life:Schlesinger was born in London into a middle-class Jewish family, the son of Winifred Henrietta and Bernard Edward Schlesinger, a physician...
and Sam Peckinpah
Sam Peckinpah
David Samuel "Sam" Peckinpah was an American filmmaker and screenwriter who achieved prominence following the release of the Western epic The Wild Bunch...
, before finally settling on Fassbinder. Driest wrote a radically different script for Fassbinder, who then "took the linear narrative and jumbled it up." White quotes Schidor as saying, "Fassbinder did something totally different, he took the words of Genet and tried to meditate on something other than the story. The story became totally unimportant for him. He also said publicly that the story was a sort of third-rate police story that wouldn't be worth making a movie about without putting a particular moral impact into it."
Schroeter had wanted to make a black and white film with amateur actors and location shots, but Fassbinder instead shot it with professional actors in a lurid, expressionist color, and on sets in the studio. White comments that the result is a film in which, "Everything is bathed in an artificial light and the architectural elements are all symbolic."
Soundtrack
- Jeanne Moreau - "Each Man Kills The Things He Loves" (Music by Peer RabenPeer RabenPeer Raben was a composer best known for his work with German film-maker Rainer Werner Fassbinder.-Life:Raben was born Wilhelm Rabenbauer in Viechtach, Bavaria...
, lyrics from Oscar WildeOscar WildeOscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...
's poem "The Ballad of Reading GaolThe Ballad of Reading GaolThe Ballad of Reading Gaol is a poem by Oscar Wilde, written in exile either in Berneval or in Dieppe, France, after his release from Reading Gaol on or about 19 May 1897. Wilde had been incarcerated in Reading, after being convicted of homosexual offences in 1895 and sentenced to two years' hard...
") - "Young and Joyful Bandit" (Music by Peer Raben, lyrics by Jeanne Moreau)
Both songs were nominated to the 1984 Razzie Awards for "Worst Original Song"