Queer: Craig shines in this unequal adaptation of Burroughs (critic)

After the frantic Challengers, Luca Guadagnino deceases with this film which deploys his lyricism far too late

The work of William S. Burroughs, as strange and hallucinated as it is, is much less so than the filmmakers who put themselves at the top of adapting it to the cinema. After David Cronenberg and his Naked feastwho better than Guadagnino to ensure the next generation, he who had the audacity (or indecency?) To tackle Suspira And The pool. It is only a bite of Queerstory of Lee’s homosexual wanderings in Mexico City of the 1950s when he falls in love with a young Apollo named Alleron. But neither the licked aesthetics nor the heartbreaking music of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross manage to save the narration paralyzed by its own disparate chapter. In the first part, the two antipathic protagonists turn around in an artificial decor which transforms them into figurines – although adorrably embodied by a fearsome daniel disturbing languor and the magnetic Drew Starkey. The second is lost in the meanders of Lee’s addiction until it overshadow the desynchronized love shared by the two men. This is already 1.5 hours past. It will be necessary to wait for the last chapter for the magic to work: Lee and Alleron rush into the jungle in search of the Yagé, a hallucinogenic preparation, and indulge in an intense ritual where bodies and minds merge to do only ‘A. A dreamlike sequence that tints the rest of the film from an atmosphere with surreal accents. If only Guadagnino had managed to venture there earlier.

Of Luca Guadagnino. With Daniel Craig, Drew Starkey, Jason Schwartzman… Duration 2h16. Released February 26, 2025