Untitled

First: The editing and effects are stunning and very Cocteau-esque. It felt reminiscent of his Orphic film trilogy. The color grading was fantastic

Guadagnino films often suffer from pacing problems but I believe it was more overt during parts of the first and the second chapter of the film.

Now on to the themes of the film

While I did not read the book by Justin Kuritzkes prior to the film, I found the plot very engaging

In the beginning of the film, we have Omar Apollo's character, who plays a Mexican gay youth. Craig's character Lee cruises him out and they hookup.

The backdrop of the film is primarily in Mexico and other parts of Latin America

While Lee is gay, he is still white

He still participates in commercial exploitation of racialized people as an American expat with access to wealth

He even considers paying Apollo's character for his services after they hook up.

In addition there are class differences between Eugene and Lee.

Lee has access to wealth enough that he can get by on his own while Eugene has to take up jobs in a foreign country.

Lee also seems to view the relationship between him and Eugene as transactional. Lee pays Eugene to stay with him and for his room and board while Eugene supplies him with sex

It seems that Lee is suffering from the syndrome of not feeling enough which many gay men suffer leading him to feel that the only way he is good enough is for sex

This can be viewed in Lee's opiate addiction

Is Lee good enough to love? Must he keep chasing after young men to make up for his lost youth as a gay man?

These are the questions Guadagnino's "Queer" asks

There is a dream sequence in which all of Lee's friends are in prison, a metaphor for the real threat of prison as well as the mental prison that Lee and his friends are trapped in. The prison of not being able to express their queerness. The prison of hiding and self loathing

This dream sequence then shifts to a naked woman, Eugene's lady friend whom he is always with and who Lee is jealous of. In the sequence she has no arms or legs but is naked. She asks Lee, "I thought you were Queer?"

Looking over this scene we can ask ourselves, is she asking Lee or Eugene this?

Is Eugene so deep in the closet that he cannot even express the most simple desire?

The answer is yes.

Eugene refuses to communicate his sexuality with Lee and does it coyishly and with calculation.

There are often scenes where Lee is trying to give domestic affection to Eugene who rejects his affection

Most notably in chapter 2: Eugene is eating breakfast. Lee tries to embrace him. Eugene pushes Lee onto the floor. Lee says, " I'm sorry. It wasn't part of our agreement. It was too soon. " This is in reference to the agreement that Eugene should pleasure Lee 2 times a week in exchange for traveling with Lee in South America. The situation is played as a joke but Lee seems to take it literally. Eugene responds with, "I don't like to be bothered when eating breakfast."

Eugene doesn't mind getting fucked by Lee but struggles with intimate affection. Most likely due to internalized homophobia

Eugene doesn't go to gay bars according to himself when confronted by Lee. He isn't queer according to himself.

In chapter 3: Lee reveals two things about himself

#1 He's addicted to opiates

#2 He wants to go to South America with Eugene to find out about yagé, a plant that can give humans telepathy - at least according to the Russians

Lee asks a South American scientist how to get yagé and if he can get any

The scientist says no. He is an American dealing with things that do not concern him

Later on we learn from Dr Cotter, a presumably American scientist living in the jungle that yagé comes from brujeria aka witchcraft. If you don't know what brujeria is and are reading this: it is essentially a mixture of indigenous, African and European traditional religious practices in Latin America.

Honestly as someone who is Hispanic and Black, the fact that the first scientist protected this root in the name of science caught my attention. I interpreted this as preserving culture from outsiders seeking to exploit culture and also from the higher more educated classes wanting to turn something that belongs to the lower classes (yagé) as their pet project which comes off as very elitist.

When we get to Dr Cotters home it is filled with harsh jungle. Eugene and Lee are both wearing safari type outfits. This is deliberate. They are both white men looking after an indigenous root. Of course we're going to get a typical white explorer colonization imagery

We learn that Dr Cotter is indigenous. We learn that she collects native American pots. She tricks Lee and Eugene into believing that you can only get yagé from a bruja when it is all around the forest for funsies

There is a conversation between Cotter and Lee where Lee implies that he wants to take the yagé for Eugene. Lee wants to understand why Eugene is so cold and repressed and he can only do it through telepathy

Cotter lets Eugene and Lee take the yagé.

They think it doesn't work then just like your first time trying an edible it hits them

They both each vomit out a heart. It may or may not be reality.

Perhaps it represents the fact that they are about to let go and transcend their consciousness

Then they both go to a fire by Dr Cotter and her husband.

Eugene and Lee dance do a naked interpretive dance

When Lee and Eugene take the yagé, Eugene and Lee can communicate telepathically and Eugene tells Lee that he isn't queer, he's disembodied.

Just like Lee. In the beginning of the film, there is an effect where Lee is compared to static on a television in the midst of a conversation

Eugene and Lee cannot handle what they've seen and done despite Cotter insisting that they try again

Therefore they are both in stasis.

After this Eugene never sees Lee again and not even in Mexico.

What they learn from the yagé?

Eugene is a repressed gay man with internalized homophobia who cannot express his emotions

Lee is chasing after the high of romance that will never be reciprocated in Eugene and that cannot be afforded to him by Eugene because of his internalized homophobia