Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.0

Querelle Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov March 13, 2014

Screened at the Venice Film Festival, Rainer Werner Fassbinder's final film, "Querelle" (1982) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Artificial Eye. The supplemental features on the disc include a video introduction by acclaimed director Volker Schlondorff and Pierre-Henri Gibert's documentary "The Twilight of Bodies: Fassbinder's Search for Querelle". In English, French, or German, with optional English subtitles. Region-B "locked".

The duel

The handsome sailor Querelle (Brad Davis, Midnight Express) arrives in the port city of Brest looking for a client willing to a buy from him a few kilos of opium. Soon after, he ends up in a notorious brothel owned by an aging madam, Lysiane (Jeanne Moreau, Elevator to the Gallows, The Trial), and her husband, Nono (Günther Kaufmann, Veronika Voss), a bisexual giant with plenty of dangerous friends. Nono promises to buy the opium from Querelle if he brings it to his place.

Several hours later, Querelle arranges with another sailor to have the opium smuggled through customs. On the shore, not too far away from the brothel, he kills his partner and then goes to see Nono. After he pays him for the delivery, the giant offers Querelle a different kind of deal: They roll the dice. If Querelle wins, he can make love to Lysaine. If the giant wins, he gets Querelle's ass. Excited by the possibilities, Querelle decides to play Nono’s game. He loses and has his first homosexual experience.

Back on the ship, Querelle’s captain, Seblon (played by the great Franco Nero, Keoma), continues to tape his most intimate desires. Having fallen madly in love with Querelle, Seblon cannot stand to see him spending time with men and women that do not deserve him. However, the more Seblon tapes himself, the more he begins to question his feelings. Is it love or lust that is driving him crazy?

Meanwhile, Querelle begins an affair with Lysaine, but quickly determines that being with her isn’t quite as exciting as being with her husband. He then meets the handsome Polish worker Gil (Hanno Poschl, Revanche), who has also killed another man. Gil steals Querelle’s heart, and he immediately panics because he has never before been in love with another man. When the police begin looking for the killer of Querelle’s partner, he decides to betray Gil so that no other man could ever be with him.

Based on Jean Genet’s novel, Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s final film is like a very intense, borderline X-rated dream in which people with inexorable desires constantly challenge fate. It is a highly stylized, stunningly beautiful film but at the same time also a seriously disturbing one. It is a film in which -- and this is the only way it could be somewhat accurately described -- there is no bottom. Everyone seems to exist in some sort of vacuum, where the only way to feel alive is to sink as low as possible in order to experience a new pain or pleasure.

It is difficult to make sense of everything that takes place in the film. Parts of it are melancholic and sad, possibly reflecting the state of mind Fassbinder was in at the time when the film was conceived. (He had lost one of his lovers, El-Hedi Ben Salem, and was already regularly taking hard drugs). Other parts overflow with nihilistic overtones. There are certain areas of the film where conventional religion is also clearly targeted.

Despite various text inserts from Genet’s novel, it is also virtually impossible to view Querelle as a faithful adaptation of it. For example, in the film, Querelle exists in a male society where women are only occasionally noticed. More often than not, they are beautiful but useless objects. They are completely incapable of influencing or redirecting a man’s life, too. In Genet’s novel, this subversive disbalance is missing.

Nevertheless, Querelle is fascinating to behold because it completely ignores conventional characterization rules and bends morality standards with admirable creativity, while all along it challenges one to think. Simply put, it is naughty entertainment for the thinking mind.

Querelle Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.36:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Rainer Werner Fassbinder's Querelle arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Artificial Eye.

The high-definition transfer is not identical to the one Gaumont used for their Blu-ray release of Querelle, but it appears to have been sourced from the same restored master the French label worked with. Generally speaking, detail and clarity tend to fluctuate as the action moves from one location to another, but these fluctuations are part of Xaver Schwarzenberger and Josef Vavra's very unique photography. To be perfectly clear, different filters and color enhancements have been used to achieve a certain 'dreamy' look. Light and shadow are also manipulated in unique ways to enhance the ambient atmosphere. There are no traces of problematic sharpening adjustments. Some extremely light denoising corrections have been applied, but the film has a moderately stable organic look. Viewers with large screens and projectors, in particular, should be very pleased with the improved image depth. Also, I would like to mention that while viewing the film I did not notice the light flicker which I spotted on the French release. Finally, there are no large debris, cuts, stains, or damage marks to report in this review. To sum it all up, even though there is room for some minor improvements this is indeed a very pleasing presentation of Querelle that is extremely easy to recommend. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).

Querelle Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are three standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: English LPCM 2.0, German LPCM 2.0, and French LPCM 2.0. For the record, Artificial Eye have provided optional English subtitles for the German and French tracks. English subtitles are also available for the French text inserts on the English-language version of the film. When turned on, the subtitles appear inside the image frame.

The original English track has a good range of nuanced dynamics, but you should not expect it to test the muscles of your audio system. Peer Raben's score is also used primarily to enhance the unique atmosphere; it is not an integral part of it. The dialog is crisp and clean, but optional English subtitles for the English-language version should have been included because some of the actors have rather thick accents. There are no audio dropouts or distortions to report in this review.

Querelle Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Introduction to Querelle by Volker Schlondorff - acclaimed German director Volker Schlondorff (The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum, The Tin Drum) recalls his first encounter with Rainer Werner Fassbinder and discusses the socio-political climate in Germany at the time when Querelle was shot. The same video introduction also appears on Gaumont's Blu-ray release of Querelle. In French, with optional English subtitles. (7 min).

• The Twilight of Bodies: Fassbinder's Search for Querelle - this excellent documentary film produced by Pierre-Henri Gibert focuses on the production history of Querelle and its creators life and legacy. Included in the film are interviews with actor Laurent Malet and writer Claude Arnaud. The same documentary also appears on Gaumont's release. In French, with optional English subtitles. (36 min).

Querelle Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Rainer Werner Fassbinder's final film, Querelle, a remarkably bold and stylish adaptation of Jean Genet's infamous novel, is truly in a league of its own. A few of Polish director Lech Majewski's films come close to replicating its unique atmosphere, but none of them are as naughty and provocative. Querelle isn't for everyone, but if you like challenging yourself you shouldn't miss it. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.