The Tragedy Behind the Movie ‘Queer’
A haunting biopic directed by Luca Guadagnino, adapted from a book written by a controversial man, William S. Burroughs, and the tragedy beneath its surface.
Queer exceeds at portraying the disconnected relationship between Lee played by Daniel Craig (a character based on William S. Burroughs), and Eugene Allerton played by Drew Starkey (Burroughs’ lover). The movie released in 2024 was directed by Luca Guadagnino whose previous works include, Call Me By your Name, Challengers, and Bones and All among others.
Before delving into the analysis of the movie, the themes and visual imagery portrayed in the biopic. I thought I needed to address what the movie only alludes to in brief surrealistic scenes at the end. Then go a step beyond that and consider Burroughs’ earlier history of his days spent in Europe before the Nazi invasion of Paris in 1940.
Link to my analysis on the imagery and symbolism present in the film ‘Queer’:
Background to Queer
Joan Vollmer and Edie Parker became flatmates whilst studying at Barnard College, New York City in the 1940s. They would soon welcome all kinds of waifs and strays who didn’t quite belong, and their flat became the gathering place for a new generation known as the Beats. Amongst those first few eccentrics meeting at their flat were Jack Kerouac (Edie’s future husband) and William Burroughs (Joan’s future partner). Both would go on to inspire these authors, especially Joan, the one guiding their conversations and all-nighter debates on social freedoms and literature. Burroughs was drawn to Joan’s inquisitive mind and eloquent speeches, and she soon became his muse. For a thorough article exploring the life and adventures of Joan Vollmer I would recommend reading this Substack article.
Later in 1949, Joan and William would leave for Mexico City to evade William’s drug and gun charges. There they would seek out and establish a community of like-minded eccentrics, following which Burroughs would soon enough fall into another drug addiction, this time heroin.
To explore the allure Mexico City had on artists and authors like William Burroughs, you can read my piece below:
As their drug addictions would escalate and William’s escapades with younger men surfaced, their relationship became fraught with arguments and abuse. This would soon drive Joan into a deep depression where she would seek alcohol and drugs for comfort. In the days leading up to the incident, Joan was physically falling apart. Hal Chase in a letter detailed how Joan had an incurable blood disease, with open sores and thinning hair.
The tragedy happened on the day Burroughs returned from a failed trip to find yagé or ayahuasca. After weeks away travelling, having left Joan alone in care of their two young children. He returns with his lover, who seemingly disinterested in him, pushes him away. In a spur of the moment to grab his lover’s attention, Burroughs pulls Joan aside and suggests they perform their William Tell All act. Eddie Woods a poet who was in the room at the time describes the scene:
Joan, inebriated jokingly adds “I can’t watch this, you know I can’t stand the sight of blood” whilst placing a glass on her head, Burroughs seemingly sober, takes aim, and shoots her in the temple.
Joan slumps over.
Glass, not a scratch, spins on the floor.
Burroughs spent 13 days in prison; and Joan’s body would lay in an unmarked grave for 42 years. In 1993 her body was exhumed and Burroughs paid for a simple inscription.
Burroughs began writing his novel “Queer” shortly after. In the introduction of which he would add:
“I am forced to the appalling conclusion that I would have never become a writer but for Joan’s death… The death of Joan brought me into contact with the invader, the Ugly Spirit, and manoeuvred me into a lifelong struggle, in which I had no choice except to write my way out.”
Burroughs’ lesser known history
A recent discovery due to this Substack article (written by playwright Richard Byrne) on Burroughs’ early years in Europe adds another layer to the mystery of his persona.
Leading up to the Nazi occupation of France, many people targeted by the Nazis were fleeing Europe. Burroughs was in Vienna in 1937 for the summer semester, to attend a diplomatic school with courses in economics and international relations. However, he dropped out to have surgery for acute appendicitis, and afterwards travelled to Dubrovnik to recover. There he reunites with an acquaintance he’d met the year before, Ilse Klapper, born into a German Jewish family, and her husband Heinrich, non-Jewish German. Both of whom were worried about Ilse’s Yugoslavian visa expiring and potential capture by the Nazis. To save her life Ilse and Heinrich were trying to find an American willing to marry her.
Burroughs offered to help, so he travelled to Athens with Ilse and married her in August, 1937. Burroughs left for the US soon after, and Ilse was finally able to escape war torn Europe and make her way over to NY in 1939. After Ilse’s naturalisation in 1946, Burroughs filed for divorce and that was the end of this chapter.
Considerations
I discovered differing opinions on the ‘why’ and the events that led to this tragedy. But the ‘what’ remains a fact. The event of the shooting is a reality we need to keep in mind. It gives us an understanding of the mind of the author behind the book, and the mind of the character, Lee, portrayed in the film.
Some claim that in the days and moments leading up to the shooting, Joan was lashing out, picking apart his sexuality and obsessive tendencies in pursuing younger men. Others can’t ignore the fact that one person came out alive and one didn’t. Suggesting Burroughs languished in the creative opportunity the novel brought off the back of Joan’s untimely death at the age of 28.
Ultimately, taking a side here is meaningless. Both individuals were torn and broken, both dealing with their own trauma and psychosis. They should have never been together, but also, without a shadow of a doubt, Burroughs should have served more time in prison for the murder. Regardless of whether or not it was intentional, a death occurred at his hands. This discourse, where we become aware of the realities that inspired a film or novel, reveals the psychology of the artist and that of their characters.
Putting everything into consideration, like any human with a complicated history, Burroughs’ past had me slightly conflicted. On one hand we have an older, more toxic individual struggling with their homosexuality and addictions, and on the other hand we have a younger, potentially more idealistic man still driven by doing some good in his life. Even if there are arguments that both Heinrich and Ilse coerced him into marrying her, if Burroughs truly disagreed he could have fled once they reached Athens. Alternatively, he could have also filed for divorce before Ilse’s naturalisation in the US. I think this discrepancy between his younger self and older self is a critical point worth keeping in mind when we consider the film ‘Queer’.