Warning: spoilers for Luca Guadagnino’s Queer.
The romantic drama Queer has a lot of symbolism, most notably the presence of a centipede and a snake, and they are heavily connected to Lee (Daniel Craig) and Gene (Drew Starkey). Based on William S. Burroughs’ 1985 novella of the same name and directed by Luca Guadagnino, Queer takes the audience back to the 1950s to tell the story of Lee and Gene. Queer is divided into three chapters and one epilogue, and its main setting is México City, where ex-pat Lee spends his days at bars meeting younger queer men until he sees Gene, a G.I. and fellow ex-pat.
Although he struggles to approach Gene at first, Lee ends up falling for Gene and they start a relationship, though it’s more physical than emotional, as Gene is emotionally distant. A trip to South America together ends up being a turning point for Lee and Gene’s relationship after an ayahuasca experience, during which big truths are revealed to them about themselves and their relationship. Throughout Queer, a centipede and snakes appear both in real life and in Lee’s dreams, and these are all about Lee and Gene’s relationship.
Queer’s Snake Represents Lee’s Cycle Of Loneliness
The Snake Is All About Lee’s Self-Destruction
Throughout Queer, some of Lee’s dreams and nightmares are shown, but they begin after he sees Gene for the first time. Lee’s dreams are about his lifestyle as a queer person, his friendships, and symbolic representations of his own fears and desires. The first time a snake appears in Queer is when Lee and Gene arrive at Dr. Cotter’s (Lesley Manville) residence in the jungle, where they are (aggressively) greeted by a snake guarding Cotter’s door. The next time a snake appears is in another of Lee’s dreams, and this is the one that holds a lot of meaning.
When Lee enters a room, he finds a snake eating its own tail, a symbol known as “ouroboros.”
In this dream sequence, Lee is inside a dollhouse that is actually the hotel where he has had various sexual encounters with young men before meeting Gene. When Lee enters a room, he finds a snake eating its own tail, a symbol known as “ouroboros.” The ouroboros is a symbol of the eternal cycle of renewal or the cycle of life, death, and rebirth. In this particular case, however, the ouroboros represents Lee’s cycle of self-destruction, hence why the snake sheds a tear.
The snake consuming itself represents Lee committing the same mistakes over and over again and being trapped in a cycle of loneliness, substance use, craving love, and being queer in a repressive world. The snake in this specific position makes it unable to move, very much like Lee after his relationship with Gene, as he remained single and died alone.
Queer’s Centipede Represents Gene Leaving Lee
The Centipede Appears With Two Of Lee’s Partners
While Lee’s symbol is the snake, Gene’s is the centipede, though it’s not exclusive to him. The centipede first appears in the first act of Queer, when Lee meets a guy at a bar he later takes to the above-mentioned hotel. The guy is wearing a centipede necklace, and he leaves after having sex with Lee, and they never see each other again. Now, back to Lee’s final dream sequence in Queer, after noticing the ouroboros on the floor, he looks up to find Gene sitting on the bed. Gene is wearing the centipede necklace, which comes to life and begins to move.
Contrary to the snake representing Lee’s destructive cycle and inability to move away from that, the centipede is about how easy it is for Gene (and the other guy) to simply leave and move on. It’s easier for Gene to simply walk away from Lee and his queerness, even telling Lee that he’s not queer, while Lee can’t escape who he is, his lifestyle, and his endless craving for love and emotional intimacy.
This continues to be true at the end of Queer, with Gene leaving México City with an army colonel to be his tour guide in South America and never seeing Lee again, showing he fully moved on, while Lee died alone and reminiscing about his time with Gene until his final breath.
Why Lee & Gene Couldn’t Be Together In Queer
Lee & Gene’s Relationship Wasn’t Meant To Last
Lee and Gene weren’t going to last together in Queer because they wanted different things. As mentioned above, Lee is looking for intimacy in every way, not just physical, and craves love, but when he begins a relationship with Gene, it’s mostly physical, as Gene remains emotionally distant. Gene doesn’t know what he wants, which leads him to play with Gene’s feelings, and he doesn’t live a free life as Lee does as a queer man, succumbing to social pressure against queer people.
Their trip into the jungle for the ayahuasca experience ended up destroying their relationship instead of fixing it, but it was for the better as they were both living a lie: Lee believing Gene could love it, and Gene staying with Lee despite knowing he loves him and not fully identifying as queer.
An American expat in 1950s Mexico City, struggling with isolation and the remnants of his past, becomes infatuated with a younger man, sparking an intense and obsessive relationship.
- Director
- Luca Guadagnino
- Release Date
- October 6, 2024
- Runtime
- 135 Minutes