People say art imitates life, and if that's the case, I'm sure it doesn't apply to Rainer Werner Fassbinder's life.
As Fassbinder's final feature before drugs took his life, Querelle is probably the best attempt to project Fassbinder's turbulent life, onto the vessel of an attractive homosexual sailor in search of love in a phallic coastal city, while hiding away his true self.
Querelle is at heart an arthouse erotic thriller, with elements of murder, homosexuality and repressed desires. In the movie men are unabashedly acting homoerotic towards each other, while seldom venturing into the realm of explosive sex scenes. It's largely a slow-burn of closeted men's journey of self-exploration, at the costs of several lives and several broken hearts.…