‘Queer’ Is a Return to Form for Daniel Craig

Daniel Craig is garnering serious praise for his performance in Luca Guadagnino’s Queer. Craig shines as William Lee, an expatriate living in Mexico during the 1950s after fleeing the U.S. to avoid legal trouble. When Lee meets and falls for a younger sailor named Eugene (Drew Starkey), a passionate affair develops as the two bond through illicit drug use. It’s a far different turn for Craig, who most moviegoers know for playing James Bond in five 007 films between 2006 and 2021.

Yet, a closer examination of Craig’s impressive resume suggests that his performance as William Lee in Queer is not out of the pale. On the contrary, Craig has experience playing gay characters, obsessive lovers, and a man infatuated with a much younger partner, reminding everyone that Craig paid his dues and honed his craft years before adopting his 007 persona. Those who enjoy Craig’s work in Queer must see his performances in Obsession, The Mother, and Love Is the Devil.

‘Queer’s Depiction of Drugs, Sex, and Loneliness

Luca Guadagnino directed Queer from the screenplay based on William S. Burroughs’s 1985 novella. The story centers on William Lee, an American who fled New Orleans to avoid a drug-related jail sentence during the 1950s. Building a new life in Mexico City, Lee lives a languorous lifestyle, wandering around the beaches, frequenting nightclubs, taking recreational drugs, and hanging out with American sailors on shore leave.

Lee’s world is forever changed when he meets Eugene Allerton, an American Naval Officer roughly half his age. The two spark a sultry romantic affair, leading to Lee’s unhealthy obsession with Allerton. Apart from Craig’s award-worthy turn, the film has been praised for its unflinching eroticism, aching depiction of isolation and loneliness, and Guadagnino’s playful editing and narrative structure.

Boasting a 77% Rotten Tomatoes score, the consensus states:

“A phantasmagorical distillation of William S. Burroughs’ preoccupations that’s by turns meandering and vital,
Queer
marks one of Daniel Craig’s most sterling performances yet.”

While it’s no surprise that Craig has delivered a knock-out performance, William Lee is unrecognizable compared to Craig’s iconic James Bond persona. Yet, those familiar with Craig’s early resume know he can play romantically tormented characters with convincing results. Those unfamiliar need to see Obsession and The Mother.

Craig’s Passionate Romance in ‘Obsession’

Echo Bridge/Maple Pictures

Before starring as James Bond in five 007 films, Daniel Craig spent over a decade working in relative obscurity. Beginning his career in 1992, Craig spent the first year on television (various shows) before landing his big breakout movie roles in Road to Perdition in 2002 and Layer Cake in 2004. In the interim, Craig stood out in the 1997 romantic drama Obsession.

Written and directed by Peter Sehr, Obsession stars Craig as John McHale, an Englishman who meets a woman named Miriam (Heike Makatsch) at a Berlin train station. The two instantly strike up a passionate bond that leads to a torrid sexual encounter. When John learns that Miriam is committed to her long-term lover, Pierre (Charles Berling), a complex love triangle develops and poses deep philosophical questions for all involved.

While the power ultimately lies in Miriam’s choice, Craig’s performance as a wanderer with a scarred past is redolent of his work in Queer. While the three lovers are the same age, Craig’s turn in The Mother is also striking.

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Craig Portrayed Another Torrid Affair in ‘The Mother’

Momentum Pictures

Queer focuses on the romance between William Lee and the much younger Eugene Allerton. Romantic age differences are no stranger to Craig, who starred in a little-known drama, The Mother, released in 2003. The plot revolves around May (Anne Reid), a middle-aged woman reeling over the recent death of her husband. After moving to London with her son, Bobby (Steven Mackintosh), and his wife, Helen (Anna-Wilson-Jones), May strikes up a heated sexual affair with Darren (Craig), a young home renovator hired to refurbish their flat.

Despite Darren’s charming warmth, May learns that Darren is a married man with a child who lives in a van down the street. More problematic, Darren is also dating May’s daughter, Paula (Cathryn Bradshaw), creating a family-laced love triangle of differing ages. Darren sleeps with May behind Paula’s back, resulting in a disturbing psychosexual domestic drama that does not end well for all involved. Craig’s pre-Brond performance was lauded by critics, with The New York Times noting the “Undertone of volatile macho arrogance seething below a cultivated surface.”

Marked by hyperrealism and moral ambiguity, Roger Ebert extolled The Mother, stating:

“By the end, ‘
The Mother
‘ has told us all we need to know about the characters, except how to feel about them. It shows how people play a role and grow comfortable with it, and how that role is confused with the real person inside. And then it shows the person inside, frightened and pitiful and fighting for survival.”

While no stranger to playing obsessive romantic charmers known for dating older and younger partners, Craig played a gay character involved with an older man in the 1998 TV movie Love Is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon.

‘Love Is the Devil’ Proves Craig Is no Stranger to Queer Roles

BBC

Eight years before playing James Bond for the first time, Daniel Craig starred opposite stage legend Derek Jacobi in Love Is The Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon. The story concerns the heated love affair between tormented British painter Francis Bacon (Jacobi) and the much younger petty thief, George Dyer (Craig). The film begins with Dyer breaking into Bacon’s home, where the young man is caught and propositioned into a sexual relationship.

Similar to Lee and Gene’s bond in Queer, Bacon and Dyer’s romance is perpetuated by chronic drug and alcohol abuse. As the two develop a serious relationship beyond the physical, the drugs and alcohol lead to infidelity, which stirs jealous rage and suicidal ideation in Dyer’s heart and mind. By the time the two reconcile and plan a new life in Paris, Dyer’s substance abuse proves too destructive, and the film ends in a tragic tale of unrequited love.

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While many outside the U.K. did not see the BBC production at the time, Love is the Devil shows that Daniel Craig has plenty of experience on par with his stellar turn in Queer. The ultra-cool James Bond persona may overshadow Craig’s convincing performances in Love Is the Devil, Obsession, and The Mother, but it can never diminish his onscreen excellence.

Obsession and Love Is the Devil are available to stream on AppleTV+

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