Queer ending explained: Does William Lee find closure in his surreal final moments?

Luca Guadagnino's Queer is a 2024 period romantic drama, based on William S. Burroughs' unfinished 1985 novella. Set against the vibrant yet harsh backdrop of 1950s Mexico City, the film digs into the emotional and physical relationship between William Lee (played by Daniel Craig) and Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey).

Through love, loss, and psychedelic exploration, they face deep philosophical questions, hallucinations, and unresolved trauma. The film adapts Burroughs' novella into a surreal narrative that attempts to complete it, blending personal details with a profound emotional journey.

Released on November 27, 2024, the plot revolves around Lee, an insecure expatriate, and his infatuation with the younger, more enigmatic Allerton. Together, they start off a journey to South America to find the hallucinogenic drug Yage, in hopes of achieving telepathic powers.

As they drink Yage, physical and metaphysical boundaries blur. Their relationship grows, but Allerton says, “I’m not queer. I'm disembodied," their bond collapses under their conflicting internal realities.

In the final moments of Queer, William Lee's search for closure plunges him into a hallucinatory state, where his unresolved emotions and past trauma create a profound yet ambiguous connection to Eugene Allerton.

Disclaimer: The article contains spoilers for Queer. Reader's discretion is needed.

Explaining the ending of Queer -

The surreal journey from Mexico City to South America

The film opens with William Lee, an American expatriate in Mexico City, whose infatuation with Eugene Allerton leads them both to South America in search of the powerful Yage. Yage, a psychotropic drug known for its hallucinogenic effects, promises to allow Lee to transcend his emotional barriers and perhaps even communicate telepathically.

However, the journey is marked by Lee’s growing obsession with Allerton, who is indifferent to his advances. This disparity in their emotional investment begins to define their relationship, setting the stage for a conflict that will haunt Lee long after their journey together ends.

In South America, Lee and Allerton meet Dr. Cotter, a Yage expert played by Lesley Manville, who introduces them to the world of the drug. After consuming Yage, their bodies seem to merge in a disturbing yet intimate scene of hallucinatory bonding.

This sequence foreshadows the ultimate emotional disconnection that will define the final moments of the film.

Lee’s hopes of deepening his connection with Allerton through the drug are dashed when Allerton reveals his emotional detachment, reinforcing the theme of unrequited love and emotional isolation.

The heartbreaking realization: The death of the dream

When Lee got back to Mexico City, two years had passed since his trip through the jungle. His search for Allerton has not been answered. There is more reflection in the movie, which is mostly about Lee's ongoing search for closure.

The things that happened to him in South America have left a deep scar, but his emotional problems still seem to have not been solved.

Lee is now lost in Mexico City, holding on to fleeting memories and desperately trying to get in touch with Allerton, who has already left the city. He is having a hard time getting closure because he can't let go of the past.

These intense searching and longing scenes reveal the movie's strangeness. Lee begins having vivid dreams of his past and present selves.

In one dream, Lee is trapped in a small flat block and sees himself and his broken past through a skewed lens.

This hallucination shows Lee's deeper mental struggle as he accepts his lost love and the fact that he will never find Allerton again. In these dreamlike scenes, Lee confronts his emotional loneliness and unresolved past trauma to end Queer.

The infamous glass incident: A twist on Burroughs' tragedy

The creepy reenactment of a real-life tragedy that shaped Burroughs' life is the movie's ending. In a scary scene, Allerton puts a glass on Lee's forehead and dares him to shoot it off.

This is similar to Burroughs accidentally killing his wife Joan Vollmer while shooting a glass out of her head.

Lee's hallucination is haunted by the film's unrealistic depiction of this event, making it hard to distinguish between his emotional reckoning and Burroughs' personal history.

The final vision: Love, loss, and the endless connection

The final moments of Queer are set in Lee’s later years when he is now older and nearing death. Alone in his apartment, Lee imagines Allerton appearing once again, this time in a vision of tenderness and connection.

Allerton’s presence in the dreamlike sequence is not a sexual encounter but an intimate, almost spiritual reconnection. Allerton drapes his leg over Lee, echoing the intimate moment they shared during their journey.

This final image represents the deep, unbreakable bond that remains between the two men, despite the distance, time, and emotional barriers that separated them.

For Lee, this final encounter with Allerton is not just a vision of lost love but also a profound moment of reconciliation with the deepest parts of his emotional self.

The connection between them is more than just a fleeting romance—it becomes a metaphor for the enduring nature of love and the emotional truths that continue to shape Lee’s life. As Lee dies, the film’s ending suggests that, while he may have lost Allerton in the physical world, their emotional bond remains eternal.

The symbolism of the ending: Closure or endless search?

In its last scenes, Queer shows a way to end a story, but it's not the way you'd expect a traditional love story to end. Through its strange visuals and hallucinatory scenes, the movie suggests that some emotional journeys never really come to an end.

Instead, they stay with a person for the rest of their life, shaping memories and affecting choices in the future. The last few minutes of the movie, when Lee dies and meets Allerton again in his dreams, show that some relationships, even if they aren't fully realized or maintained in real life, leave an indelible mark on a person's soul.

Queer's ending isn't clear, so it can be interpreted in different ways. Is it a real reconciliation, or is it just the end of Lee's dreams that helped him find peace? The viewer can decide what the answer means. The movie doesn't come up with the same meaning for everyone.

Instead, it's a poetic reflection on love, loss, and how complicated human relationships can be.

A dream unfinished: Too many things come to an end

The last few minutes of Queer aren't just about the end of Lee and Allerton's relationship; they're also about how Burroughs' life and work are still unfinished.

As a tribute to Burroughs' own struggles with identity, addiction, and love, the hallucinations and dream sequences are a good fit. The sad ending of the movie depicts that some stories, like love, don't have happy endings.

They stick around, unresolved, like the sound of a dream from a long time ago.

Queer presents a vision of love that transcends the physical realm and continues to haunt its characters long after their journeys have ended.

Queer is running in theatres now.

Edited by Prem Deshpande