QUEER

*CUT TO THE CHASE*

NOTE: This spoiler was submitted by Jeremy

CHAPTER ONE: How Do You Like Mexico?
The film opens with William Lee (Daniel Craig) out with a young Jewish man in Mexico City during the 50s, whom Lee figures is queer but is hiding it from his mother. They do not have much of a connection and part ways.

Lee is an American expatriate who spends his days trying to get into casual flings with other men. Some find his advances uncomfortable, but he has a few friends like Joe Guidry (Jason Schwartzman) that he hangs out with at a gay bar called Ships Ahoy. Lee later meets a man in a bar (Omar Apollo) and takes him to a hotel where they hook up. Lee is also a heroin addict, which is part of the reason he no longer lives in the U.S.

While out on the streets, Lee notices a younger man, Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey). Lee finds Allerton in a local bar that he frequents and attempts to get his attention with a silly gesture, but Allerton ignores him in favor of the company of a woman, Mary (Andra Ursuta).

Some days pass, and Lee eventually gets Allerton to start spending time with him. Allerton is a former GI also living outside the U.S. Lee and Allerton hang out with Joe and some of their other friends, though one of them, John (Drew Droege), suggests Allerton might not be queer after having a conversation with him. After having dinner, Lee and Allerton go back to Lee’s place, where he gives Allerton liquor, but it causes him to vomit. Not long after, Allerton lets Lee seduce him, and Lee blows him while Allerton gives Lee a handjob.

Lee and Allerton continue to hang out, but Allerton keeps Lee at a distance, despite him wanting to get closer and more romantic with him. Allerton does not see himself as queer the same way Lee sees himself. Lee also continues to make a fool of himself by going to a party drunk and embarrassing himself in front of his and Allerton’s friends before passing out. While unconscious, Lee has a vivid dream where he sees a man sharpening a knife for him, as well as a nude woman who is missing her lower legs. When Lee reaches out to touch her, she asks if he is queer, to which he replies that he is not queer, but “disembodied”.

Lee tells Allerton about yagé (ayahuasca), a hallucinogenic plant that is said to provide telepathic abilities. Lee invites him to join him in South America to find the yagé. Although Allerton does not immediately accept, he eventually agrees to go.

CHAPTER TWO: Travel Companions
The two men travel to South America, but Lee starts to experience severe withdrawals and bouts of dysentery. Allerton has to deal with this, such as when Lee cannot sleep at night because he is shivering too much. The two visit a doctor, who orders Lee to put an end to his addictions if he is to get any help.

Lee later visits a botanist to try and acquire yagé, but the botanist tells Lee that it does not have the same effect as regular drugs. Still insistent, the botanist refers Lee to Dr. Cotter (Lesley Manville), who lives in a jungle in Quito, as she may be in possession of the yagé.

CHAPTER THREE: Lost in the Jungle
Lee and Allerton head to Quito to find Dr. Cotter. They end up lost while walking through the jungle until they come upon Cotter’s home. She emerges with her husband (Lisandro Alonso), brandishing a gun at the two men. After Lee introduces them and explains the purpose of their visit, Cotter invites them into her home and feeds them.

Cotter explains the effects of yagé and her time spent acquiring the elements from a witch doctor of a local tribe. At night, Cotter brews some yagé and drinks it along with Lee, Allerton, and Mr. Cotter. After some time, Lee and Allerton claim they do not feel anything until they start to experience intense hallucinations, such as them puking up their own hearts in blood-filled bubbles. As the night goes on, the two see things like their bodies glowing, and they begin to communicate telepathically. Lee and Allerton then hold each other, and their bodies appear to fuse together.

The next morning, Cotter suggests to Allerton that he and Lee stay a few days longer, as she has never witnessed the type of experience with yagé that she saw with the two of them. Later, Lee and Allerton walk in the jungle again until Allerton seems to vanish from Lee’s view.

EPILOGUE: Two Years Later
After a long absence, Lee returns to Mexico City. He goes to Ships Ahoy, where he finds Joe still there and happy to see him. They sit for a drink, and Joe tells Lee that Allerton was last seen going back to South America to guide an army colonel, with the intention of finding Lee there.

That night, Lee falls asleep and has another odd dream, one where he sees himself looking into a miniature version of his hotel. As he walks into another room, he finds Allerton there, putting a glass on his head to shoot (a game of William Tell). Lee shoots Allerton in the head and then tearfully starts to cradle his body. He then looks around, and everything in the room starts to vanish, including Allerton’s body, and then Lee himself.

The scene cuts to an elderly Lee, still living alone but hearing Allerton’s voice speaking to him. He lies down in bed and imagines the younger Allerton holding him. Lee’s breaths then become slower until he finally stops and dies alone.

In 1950s Mexico, William Lee is an American expatriate and heroin addict who spends most of his days drinking and looking for flings with other men. He meets Eugene Allerton, a younger former GI who also lives outside the U.S., and Lee becomes enamored with him. Although Allerton keeps Lee at a distance at first, he starts to form a relationship with him, despite never acknowledging himself being queer.

Lee wants to find a drug called yagé, or ayahuasca, as he wishes to use its supposed telepathic abilities to communicate with Allerton. Allerton joins Lee on a trip to South America, where Lee experiences withdrawals and needs Allerton's help. They later find a woman named Dr. Cotter, who lives with her husband in the jungle and provides the men with the yagé. They experience an intense hallucinogenic episode, and Allerton later disappears from Lee, and they never see each other again.

Two years later, Lee returns to Mexico and is told that Allerton went back to South America and was waiting to meet with him. It is implied that Lee lives and dies at an old age, alone and still pining for Allerton.