Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Did a band disagreement that was threatening to become physical really get defused, circa 1979, by John Deacon playing the bass riff from โAnother One Bites the Dustโ? (โCool riff!โ say the other members, and promptly stop fighting.) Did Freddie Mercury really get his first, unsolicited gay kiss โ the first one we see, at least โ while at the piano playing โLove of My Lifeโ, a song he wrote for his then-wife Mary? Mercury himself (played by Rami Malek, from Mr. Robot), famously flamboyant, would surely have replied that it doesnโt matter, and fiction is more fun than truth anyway โ and the same may be said of Bohemian Rhapsody, an enjoyable biopic thatโs surprisingly sharp in some respects, utterly square-cut in others.
โFormulas are a complete and utter waste of time,โ claim Queen (the mega-band fronted, of course, by Mr. Mercury) during heated negotiations with EMI honcho Ray Foster. Foster, unlike Queen, is a corporate loser who loves formulas โ he later gets matched to the line โNo time for losersโ in the climactic rendition of โWe Are the Championsโ โ yet the film takes his side over the bandโs, being made very much according to celebrity-biopic formula: heady rise followed by messy fall, structured on a pivot (Live Aid, in this case) that allows the film to come full-circle and end on a high note. The ironies are sledgehammer-heavy. โCanโt get anywhere pretending to be someone youโre not,โ chides Freddie (nรฉ Farrokh)โs stern Zoroastrian dad after he changes his name โ and right on cue the phone rings, heralding the bandโs first big break. โWhat on earth is it about? โScaramoucheโ?โ babbles Foster when he hears the titular hit, predicting that no radio station will ever play it.
โBohemian Rhapsodyโ the song is now such a classic, of course, that the film doesnโt even deign to show its success; instead it quotes the barrage of bad reviews it received in the music press, then discreetly fades to black, the visual equivalent of a meaningful ellipsis. (There may be some score-settling going on here; two of the surviving members of Queen, Brian May and Roger Taylor, are among the producers.) Bohemian Rhapsody the movie may or may not become a classic โ but, like the song, itโll be a peopleโs classic, not a critical darling. Thereโs too much cheesy detail getting in the way of a rave review, not just that riff from โAnother One Bites the Dustโ but also e.g. Freddie giving an impromptu audition in the parking lot (โIโll consider your offer,โ he tells May and Taylor cheekily, having stunned them with that multi-octave voice) or reconciling with his parents just in time for the grand finale. Then again, maybe it happened just like that. Heโs just a poor boy, he needs no sympathy.
That unsentimental streak comes through, especially near the end when Mercury gets Aids and refuses to become โan Aids poster-boy, a cautionary taleโ, determined to live without judgment or pity. โIโm exactly the person I was always meant to be!โ he declares earlier โ meaning a performer, an artist, pushing boundaries in the studio and shielding his personal life behind an โexoticโ persona. The film is unsentimental in a couple of other ways too: first, in showing Queen as a hotbed of constant bickering โ though May does ensure he gets credit for the โgeniusโ concept behind โWe Will Rock Youโ! โ and second, in showing Freddieโs tortured sexuality as a nuisance (and the cause of his downfall) rather than a badge of honour.
Itโs easy to make the closeted homosexuality of a less-enlightened past seem poignant and full of pathos โ but the tone here is sharper and pricklier, making Freddieโs gayness (represented by the predator-like Paul Prenter, the devious creep who gives him that first, unsolicited kiss) almost the villain of the piece. Heโs shown to be happy with Mary (Lucy Boynton), even while struggling to resist temptation; when he calls her โthe love of my lifeโ, director Bryan Singer (who is himself openly bisexual) isnโt tagging Freddie as insincere, even if the marriage is, in one sense, a sham. Itโs an honest tone, steering clear of the sanctimonious bromides of e.g. The Imitation Game โ and Malek is also outstanding, whether sizing up his future bandmates with a calculating look (Freddie was no fool; Malek makes it clear the campy peacock preening was part of the act) or bringing a sharp sense of pain to the scene where FM meets his ex with โ unexpectedly โ her new boyfriend.
Bohemian Rhapsody opens and ends with Live Aid, Bob Geldofโs seminal โconcert for Africaโ where Queen reunited and Freddie โ sick, weakened, his voice going โ worked the biggest crowd of his career. Singer goes all-out in the climax, recreating the medley of songs with frantic, shamelessly emotive editing encompassing just about everyone in the movie: Freddieโs parents, lovers, fellow freaks โ and of course his other family, โfour misfits playing to all the other misfitsโ (not that Queenโs fist-pumping, crowd-pleasing rock anthems ever seemed to be aimed at misfits; but what do I know?). Not a dry eye in the house, then this scrappy โ but well-worked โ biopic is over. Goodbye everybody, heโs got to go.
DIRECTED BY Bryan Singer
BIOGRAPHICAL DRAMA
STARRING Rami Malek, Lucy Boynton, Gwilym Lee
US/UK 2018 134 mins
