As a seasoned cinephile with a penchant for the profound and poignant, Luca Guadagnino has undoubtedly left a lasting impression on me this year. The Italian auteur’s masterful handling of two vastly different films, both brimming with emotional depth and visual audacity, is truly commendable.
2024 has been an outstanding year for filmmaker Luca Guadagnino, with two remarkable films making their debut – the passionate tennis-themed drama “Challengers” in April, and the adaptation of William S. Burroughs’ work titled “Queer” in late November. As he shares, one particularly gripping scene in “Queer” was inspired by a deeply unsettling incident he experienced as a young child.
In a poignant and frequently emotional exploration, the film Queer introduces us to William Lee (Daniel Craig), a solitary expatriate residing in Mexico City. His life is marked by twin addictions – one to heroin, the other to the affection of Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey), a younger American man. The film has garnered widespread acclaim from critics, with many lauding Craig’s brave and passionate portrayal, which led to a 2025 Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama.
The film “Queer” contains striking surreal scenes, among which the most chilling might be the one depicting Lee vomiting a blood-filled balloon following an ayahuasca trip. In a chat with director Denis Villeneuve for Variety, Guadagnino shared that this unsettling image has been on his mind for four decades. He reminisced about its origin, explaining it stemmed from a deeply troubling experience in his childhood past.
This memory originates from my past, as I rarely shared this story before. When I was ten years old, my father’s elderly aunt lived in a village distant from Palermo. We went to bring her back home with us. As we were about to leave, I descended the stairwell and stepped outside to find my aunt inflating a large, vibrant red balloon. The sight of it captured me instantly. The balloon grew larger and redder until it burst, causing it to deflate right in front of me. Unfortunately, she had a hemorrhagic incident at that moment, an image that has stayed with me ever since.
At ten years old, that’s quite distressing, but Guadagnino manages to make it both unsettling and moving in his movie, an image as lasting as the killer’s mark in Fritz Lang’s M, as Villeneuve describes it.
‘Queer’ Has Been on Guadagnino’s Radar Since He Was a Teenager
Guadagnino further disclosed that he has long been drawn to the themes of Queer since he was introduced to Burroughs’ novella at the age of 17. Reflecting on this in another conversation, he expressed the profound influence that work had on him during those formative years.
At 17 years old, I was already aware of my sexual identity yet still exploring it. Reading a book that openly discussed homoerotic love was significant for me, but what truly captivated me was Burroughs’ unique use of language and creativity. For instance, he conceptualized the notion of a translucent body that extends from one’s physical form in pursuit of the beloved’s body. This vivid image left an indelible mark on me, and it is depicted in the film.
In this scene depicted by Guadagnino, where an ethereal limb emerges from Lee and tenderly touches Eugene, serves as another captivating visual from the movie. Similar to the blood-filled balloon, such a vivid moment is likely to linger in viewers’ minds even beyond the final credits.
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2024-12-17 01:03