HOMOSEXUALITY IN experimental FILM: THE 1980s
Querelle (1982)
dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder
perf. brad davis, franco nero
runtime: 108 Minutes
WEST GERMANY AND FRANCE
![Picture](/uploads/1/8/0/6/18060971/6924125.jpg)
Querelle is the homoerotic story of a handsome sailor, hustler and thief in a frustrating incestuous relationship with his own brother. Querelle betrays those who love him and embarks on a murderous streak. He visits a brothel where he attempts to sleep with its female owner. However, to do so he must play a round of dice with her husband, Nono. If he loses, he must allow Nono to sodomize him. When it appears that Querelle throws the game intentionally, we see Nono spit into his hand and take Querelle from behind.
Though there is no actual nudity or real sex in the film, the suggestion of homoeroticism is ubiquitous. Fassbinder plays with the phallic symbol in his set design as well as in Querelle’s poster. The camera idealizes the male figure which is inherently homoerotic given that women were are not traditionally considered to have an active gaze.
With a background in theatre, director Rainer Werner Fassbinder created a setting for the story which recalled erotic gay films of the seventies, infusing the screen with a warm orange tinge as well as evoking the surrealist films of Kenneth Anger. The connection to Anger is fitting given the storyline which takes both sexual and violent turns, with Querelle acting on his repressed sexual and malevolent desires.
Fassbinder was one of the spear headers of New German Cinema which poised to create a name for German art house films. LaValley writes,”formally and thematically, Fassbinder seems to be attempting to broaden the agenda of the art house style and its norms by enriching it with more explicit and sexual content” (111). Querelle marks the inclusion of homoerotic and homosexual subject matter penetrating the art house scene.
Though there is no actual nudity or real sex in the film, the suggestion of homoeroticism is ubiquitous. Fassbinder plays with the phallic symbol in his set design as well as in Querelle’s poster. The camera idealizes the male figure which is inherently homoerotic given that women were are not traditionally considered to have an active gaze.
With a background in theatre, director Rainer Werner Fassbinder created a setting for the story which recalled erotic gay films of the seventies, infusing the screen with a warm orange tinge as well as evoking the surrealist films of Kenneth Anger. The connection to Anger is fitting given the storyline which takes both sexual and violent turns, with Querelle acting on his repressed sexual and malevolent desires.
Fassbinder was one of the spear headers of New German Cinema which poised to create a name for German art house films. LaValley writes,”formally and thematically, Fassbinder seems to be attempting to broaden the agenda of the art house style and its norms by enriching it with more explicit and sexual content” (111). Querelle marks the inclusion of homoerotic and homosexual subject matter penetrating the art house scene.
A video montage of Querelle and it's stylized imagery
Interesting facts: Querelle was adapted from Jean Genet's novel Querelle de Brest. Genet made the other landmark gay film Un Chant d'Amour (1950).
Andy Warhol created a poster for the film, featured in the blue banner at the top of this page. This was also rare because Warhol's work is rarely so overtly gay.
Interesting facts: Querelle was adapted from Jean Genet's novel Querelle de Brest. Genet made the other landmark gay film Un Chant d'Amour (1950).
Andy Warhol created a poster for the film, featured in the blue banner at the top of this page. This was also rare because Warhol's work is rarely so overtly gay.
Buddies (1985)
dir. Arthur Bressan Jr.
perf. Geoff Edholm, damon hairston
Runtime: 81 Minutes
usa
![Picture](/uploads/1/8/0/6/18060971/9679309.jpg?337)
Arthur Bressan Jr was a gay porn director turned art film director. He dies of complications of AIDS before the release of his last film Buddies. Buddies is the first film to address the AIDS pandemic. It follows a New York City gay man who enlists in becoming a volunteer friend for another gay man who is dying of AIDS. They develop a romantic relationship and, in an important scene, have sex. This was a huge taboo at the time, especially to be shown in a somewhat mainstream film, as there was widespread anxiety about the AIDS virus at the time to the point where gay men were highly feared and villainized for the spread of the disease. Though the sex in the film is far from graphic, the mere eroticizing of a man dying of AIDS was highly provocative and remains so. Where gay men dying of AIDS were being outcasted by a society which blamed them for their own disease, Bressan wanted to humanize the illness with the romantic story of Buddies. Bressan made the unusual choice to block out all other characters in the film and only focus on the two principles, with only offscreen voices of secondary characters being heard. This way we are able to ignore the social paradigms of the time and focus on the human relationship between two gay men. Mainstream Hollywood is just starting to portray homosexuality at this time, thus, gay sex is pushing the boundaries in more unconventional ways that are less erotic and more about social progression.
Unfortunately there are no available clips online of Buddies.
NOTABLE FILMS:
1983 - Born in Flames (Lizzie Borden)
1987 - Mayhem (Abigail Child)
1989 - Dead Dreams of Monochrome Men (DV8)
Mainstream:
1980 - Cruising
1980 - La Cage Aux Folles II
1982 - Making Love
1982 - Victor/Victoria
1984 - Before Stonewall
1985 - My Beautiful Laundrette
1988 - Torch Song Trilogy
1989 - Longtime Companion
1983 - Born in Flames (Lizzie Borden)
1987 - Mayhem (Abigail Child)
1989 - Dead Dreams of Monochrome Men (DV8)
Mainstream:
1980 - Cruising
1980 - La Cage Aux Folles II
1982 - Making Love
1982 - Victor/Victoria
1984 - Before Stonewall
1985 - My Beautiful Laundrette
1988 - Torch Song Trilogy
1989 - Longtime Companion
CITATIONS:
LaValley, Al, New German Critique , No. 63, Special Issue on Rainer Werner Fassbinder (Autumn, 1994), pp. 108-137.
LaValley, Al, New German Critique , No. 63, Special Issue on Rainer Werner Fassbinder (Autumn, 1994), pp. 108-137.