Queer
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.
The film box office disappointment against its mid-range budget of $53.4M, earning $5.5M globally (-90% loss). While initial box office returns were modest, the film has gained appreciation for its innovative storytelling within the drama genre.
4 wins & 60 nominations
Plot Structure
Story beats plotted across runtime
Narrative Arc
Emotional journey through the story's key moments
Story Circle
Blueprint 15-beat structure
Arcplot Score Breakdown
Weighted: Precision (70%) + Arc (15%) + Theme (15%)
Queer (2024) exemplifies carefully calibrated plot construction, characteristic of Luca Guadagnino's storytelling approach. This structural analysis examines how the film's 15-point plot structure maps to proven narrative frameworks across 2 hours and 18 minutes. With an Arcplot score of 7.6, the film showcases strong structural fundamentals.
Characters
Cast & narrative archetypes
William Lee
Eugene Allerton
Joe Guidry
Dr. Cotter
Main Cast & Characters
William Lee
Played by Daniel Craig
An American expatriate and writer living in 1950s Mexico City, struggling with addiction and loneliness while pursuing a younger man.
Eugene Allerton
Played by Drew Starkey
A younger discharged serviceman and object of Lee's obsessive desire, emotionally detached and enigmatic.
Joe Guidry
Played by Jason Schwartzman
An American expatriate and Lee's friend in Mexico City's gay community.
Dr. Cotter
Played by Lesley Manville
An eccentric scientist in South America who Lee and Allerton seek out for ayahuasca/yagé experiences.
Structural Analysis
The Status Quo at 2 minutes (1% through the runtime) establishes William Lee sits alone in a Mexico City bar, a middle-aged American expatriate adrift in the demimonde, drinking and cruising, existing in a state of lonely dissociation from both his desires and the world around him.. Structural examination shows that this early placement immediately immerses viewers in the story world.
The inciting incident occurs at 16 minutes when Eugene Allerton, a younger ex-Navy serviceman, walks into Lee's regular bar. Lee is immediately transfixed—Allerton represents youth, beauty, and the possibility of genuine connection that Lee has been starving for.. At 12% through the film, this Disruption aligns precisely with traditional story structure. This beat shifts the emotional landscape, launching the protagonist into the central conflict.
The First Threshold at 34 minutes marks the transition into Act II, occurring at 24% of the runtime. This reveals the protagonist's commitment to Lee and Allerton sleep together for the first time. Lee has crossed into the relationship he's been desperately seeking, choosing to fully pursue this connection despite knowing Allerton's emotional unavailability., moving from reaction to action.
At 70 minutes, the Midpoint arrives at 50% of the runtime—precisely centered, creating perfect narrative symmetry. Structural examination shows that this crucial beat Lee proposes they travel to South America to seek ayahuasca (yagé), claiming he wants to explore telepathy. This is a false victory disguised as adventure—Lee believes this quest will bind them together, but it actually reveals his desperate attempt to manufacture intimacy that doesn't exist., fundamentally raising what's at risk. The emotional intensity shifts, dividing the narrative into clear before-and-after phases.
The Collapse moment at 103 minutes (75% through) represents the emotional nadir. Here, Lee takes ayahuasca with Dr. Cotter. In the hallucinogenic visions, Lee confronts the truth: his desperate need to merge with Allerton, to disappear into another person, is impossible. The drug reveals not telepathic connection but radical aloneness. The fantasy dies., shows the protagonist at their lowest point. This beat's placement in the final quarter sets up the climactic reversal.
The Second Threshold at 110 minutes initiates the final act resolution at 80% of the runtime. Allerton departs. Lee must accept that love and possession are not the same, that another person cannot fill the void within him. The realization doesn't bring peace, but it brings clarity: he must live with his desire rather than expecting it to be fulfilled., demonstrating the transformation achieved throughout the journey.
Emotional Journey
Queer's emotional architecture traces a deliberate progression across 15 carefully calibrated beats.
Narrative Framework
This structural analysis employs a 15-point narrative structure framework that maps key story moments. By mapping Queer against these established plot points, we can identify how Luca Guadagnino utilizes or subverts traditional narrative conventions. The plot point approach reveals not only adherence to structural principles but also creative choices that distinguish Queer within the drama genre.
Luca Guadagnino's Structural Approach
Among the 8 Luca Guadagnino films analyzed on Arcplot, the average structural score is 7.0, reflecting strong command of classical structure. Queer represents one of the director's most structurally precise works. For comparative analysis, explore the complete Luca Guadagnino filmography.
Comparative Analysis
Additional drama films include After Thomas, South Pacific and Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights. For more Luca Guadagnino analyses, see Challengers, Call Me by Your Name and I Am Love.
Plot Points by Act
Act I
SetupStatus Quo
William Lee sits alone in a Mexico City bar, a middle-aged American expatriate adrift in the demimonde, drinking and cruising, existing in a state of lonely dissociation from both his desires and the world around him.
Theme
Joe Guidry tells Lee, "You can't possess another person, Bill," foreshadowing the central struggle between Lee's desperate need for connection and the impossibility of owning another human being.
Worldbuilding
Mexico City's expatriate underworld of the early 1950s: bars, cheap hotels, hidden queer spaces. Lee navigates this world with practiced cynicism, surrounded by fellow expats Joe Guidry and Winston Moor, engaging in routine cruising and drug use, living in a holding pattern of addiction and isolation.
Disruption
Eugene Allerton, a younger ex-Navy serviceman, walks into Lee's regular bar. Lee is immediately transfixed—Allerton represents youth, beauty, and the possibility of genuine connection that Lee has been starving for.
Resistance
Lee circles Allerton with increasing desperation, oscillating between performance and vulnerability. He offers cultural excursions, buys him drinks, tells stories, deploys his wit—anything to hold Allerton's attention. Allerton remains politely ambiguous, neither fully rejecting nor accepting Lee's advances.
Act II
ConfrontationFirst Threshold
Lee and Allerton sleep together for the first time. Lee has crossed into the relationship he's been desperately seeking, choosing to fully pursue this connection despite knowing Allerton's emotional unavailability.
Mirror World
In their intimate moments, Allerton serves as Lee's mirror—cool, detached, unknowable. Where Lee is desperate for fusion, Allerton maintains distance. This relationship becomes the lens through which Lee must confront his impossible desire to possess and be possessed.
Premise
Lee and Allerton's affair unfolds in Mexico City: passionate encounters interspersed with Lee's mounting anxiety over Allerton's emotional distance. Lee performs, confesses, pleads. Allerton participates but remains fundamentally elsewhere. The "fun and games" of obsessive love—ecstatic sex followed by crushing uncertainty.
Midpoint
Lee proposes they travel to South America to seek ayahuasca (yagé), claiming he wants to explore telepathy. This is a false victory disguised as adventure—Lee believes this quest will bind them together, but it actually reveals his desperate attempt to manufacture intimacy that doesn't exist.
Opposition
The South American journey: Ecuador, the jungle, seeking the elusive Dr. Cotter who possesses yagé. The external quest becomes increasingly surreal while the internal reality hardens—Allerton grows more distant, Lee more desperate. The physical journey mirrors Lee's futile attempt to reach Allerton emotionally.
Collapse
Lee takes ayahuasca with Dr. Cotter. In the hallucinogenic visions, Lee confronts the truth: his desperate need to merge with Allerton, to disappear into another person, is impossible. The drug reveals not telepathic connection but radical aloneness. The fantasy dies.
Crisis
In the aftermath of the ayahuasca experience, Lee sits with the unbearable knowledge that he cannot possess Allerton, cannot escape himself through another person. Allerton prepares to leave. Lee is alone with his need, which has not diminished but has been revealed as unquenchable.
Act III
ResolutionSecond Threshold
Allerton departs. Lee must accept that love and possession are not the same, that another person cannot fill the void within him. The realization doesn't bring peace, but it brings clarity: he must live with his desire rather than expecting it to be fulfilled.
Synthesis
Lee returns to his solitary existence, but transformed by his encounter with Allerton. He sits again in the bars of Mexico City, but something has shifted—he has faced the abyss of his loneliness and survived. The ache remains, but the desperate need to escape it has been tempered.
Transformation
Lee sits alone, an image that mirrors the opening but transformed by experience. He is still lonely, still hungry for connection, but no longer in flight from himself. He has learned to inhabit his desire rather than be destroyed by it—a melancholy acceptance of the unbridgeable distance between human beings.