Querelle

Querelle

Conjured from the unholy meeting of two iconoclastic queer artists, Rainer Werner Fassbinder's final film audaciously raises Jean Genet's controversial novel to the level of myth. In an expressionistic soundstage vision of a French seaport town - bathed in fiery reds and complete with phallic spires - a strapping sailor and unrepentant criminal (Brad Davis) comes ashore to arouse passion, rivalry and violence among the libidinal denizens drawn into his orbit. Enacted with dreamlike stylization by a cast of international stars, including Jeanne Moreau and Franco Nero, Querelle finds Fassbinder pushing his taboo-shattering depiction of gay desire to delirious extremes.

This brand-new special edition from the Criterion Collection features a high-definition digital master, approved by director of photography Xaver Schwarzenberger, a new interview with critic Michael Koresky on director Rainer Werner Fassbinder's aesthetics and visual storytelling, the 1982 documentary Rainer Werner Fassbinder: Last Works, an essay by critic Nathan Lee and much, much more.