Querelle

Querelle is both a 1947 novel (Querelle de Brest) by French author Jean Genet and its film adaptation by Rainer Werner Fassbinder from 1982.

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The plot centers around the handsome sailor Georges Querelle (Brad Davis), who is also a thief and murderer and has hidden his booty all over the world. When his ship, the Vengeur, arrives in Brest, he visits the Feria, a brothel run by Lysiane (Jeanne Moreau), whose lover Robert is Querelle's brother.

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Querelle, who had been smuggling drugs, murders his accomplice Vic in an act that is the typical blend of homosexuality and violence so prevalent in Genet's work.

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Luckily for Querelle, a construction worker called Gil murders his coworker Theo, who had been harassing and sexually assaulting him. Gil hides from the police, and Roger, who is in love with Gil, establishes contact between Querelle and Gil in the hopes that Querelle can help Gil flee.

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Querelle and Gil fall in love, but Querelle betrays Gil by tipping off the police. Querelle had cleverly arranged it that his murder of Vic is also blamed on Gil.

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In parallel there is a plot line about Lieutenant Seblon (Franco Nero), who is in love with Querelle, and constantly tries to prove his manliness to him.

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Fassbinder's adaptation features surreal sets that underscore the dreamlike quality and abstraction of the novel. It was Fassbinder's final and by his own words most important movie.

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1947: 1947 was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar)....

French: French can refer to more than one article:...

Jean Genet: Jean Genet (1910-1986) was a prominent, sometimes infamous, French writer and later political activist. Early in his life he was a vagabond and petty criminal; later in life, Genet wrote novels, plays, poems, and essays, including The Thief's Journal, Our Lady of the Flowers, The Balcony, The Blacks...

Querelle related Images and Photos (experimental)

Querelle

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