The closest the film gets is a cheeky exchange where Mercury (Rami Malek) follows a truck driver (Adam Lambert) into a dirty bathroom. To tell the story of Freddie Mercury, one of the predominant queer icons of the 21st century, while barely attempting to highlight his queerness is less of a misstep and more of a flagrant dismissal of his intimate life. Gay sex isn't something that Hollywood typically depicts, instead the industry relegates it to innuendos and close ups of men wincing in pain.īohemian Rhapsody is the perfect example. Even the controversial peach scene (in the book, Oliver takes a bite from Elio's semen-filled peach) got a PG-13 edit. The intimacy of the scene feels sincere, but anyone who has read the book knows that some of the story's more suggestive scenes get the axe. Even when a film 'gets it right' like recent Academy Award-winning Call Me By Your Name, it's usually done through a heterosexual gaze.
