Querelle (Criterion Collection) (Blu ray) [USA]

[C.C. 95]

Release Date: June 11, 2024
Prices and Links:
Criterion- $31.96
Amazon- $39.95

Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Writers: Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Burkhard Driest, Jean Genet
Starring: Brad Davis, Franco Nero, Jeanne Moreau, Laurent Malet, Roger Fritz

• Germany, France
• 1982
• 108 minutes
• Color
• 2.35:1
• English

Conjured from the unholy meeting of two iconoclastic ***** 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.

BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES​

• Restored high-definition digital master, approved by director of photography Xaver Schwarzenberger, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
• New interview with critic Michael Koresky on director Rainer Werner Fassbinder's aesthetics and visual storytelling
• Rainer Werner Fassbinder—Last Works, a 1982 documentary by Wolf Gremm
• Trailer
• English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• PLUS: An essay by critic Nathan Lee

TRAILER:

 

[Lenny Nero]

Cover looks A.I. generated, really ugly, plastic toy like.

 

[Gadget]

It would help if the face looked vaguely like the actor.

The artist apparently claims he didn’t use AI. I’m happy to accept the claim, but it means he’s very good at producing art that looks like it came from AI. Why Criterion chose not to fire the artist and employ a proper graphics person I don’t know.