Curator Watchlist
A lush, feverish romantic drama with striking visual control and a strong sense of yearning, but its deliberately elusive characters and drifting narrative will leave some viewers cold. It’s best approached as an atmosphere piece about desire, loneliness, and self-erasure rather than a conventional love story.
Where to watch: Buy
Wed · 2h 18m
Director: Luca Guadagnino
Starring: Daniel Craig, Drew Starkey, Jason Schwartzman
In 1950s Mexico City, William Lee, an American ex-pat in his late forties, leads a solitary life amidst a small American community. However, the arrival in town of Eugene Allerton, a young student, stirs William into finally establishing a meaningful connection with someone.
Luca Guadagnino
Daniel Craig, Drew Starkey, Jason Schwartzman
A lush, feverish romantic drama with striking visual control and a strong sense of yearning, but its deliberately elusive characters and drifting narrative will leave some viewers cold. It’s best approached as an atmosphere piece about desire, loneliness, and self-erasure rather than a conventional love story.
Queer is less interested in romance as comfort than as compulsion. Luca Guadagnino turns longing into a tactile, uneasy experience: bodies brush, rooms sweat, and every glance feels charged with need and uncertainty. Daniel Craig gives the film its bruised center, playing a man whose desire is inseparable from loneliness and self-delusion.
The film’s greatest strength is its atmosphere. It is seductive, disorienting, and often beautiful in a way that feels psychologically exact rather than merely decorative. The imagery and sound design work together to create a fever dream of obsession, one that keeps slipping away from easy interpretation.
That same quality is also why it may not fully connect for everyone. The characters are intentionally opaque, and the story can feel more like a series of emotional states than a dramatic arc. If that approach clicks, the film can feel haunting and transfixing; if it doesn’t, it may seem distant and frustrating.
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desire, loneliness, obsession, queer identity, emotional isolation, self-delusion, yearning, psychological instability
queer romance, psychological drama, erotic drama, surreal mood, yearning, loneliness, obsession, expatriate life, 1950s setting, art-house