Querelle of Roberval

Lambert (You Will Love What You Have Killed) relocates the title character of Jean Genet’s Querelle of Brest to a sawmill in Roberval, Quebec, in this vibrant if unwieldy homage. Querelle, 27, and his coworkers are on strike at the mill. Almost everyone desires him; his body is “born to be nude... his presence takes on a mystical, bewitching quality.” He also “captivates and shocks” his coworkers, particularly Jézebel. There’s also a subplot involving her sister, Judith, who considers working as a double agent among the strikers. In addition, three gay teens perform explicit sexual and criminal acts including necrophilia, featured in Dennis Cooperish sequences. The fuguelike narrative swells to include sections introducing a union buster known as the Hulk as well as the author himself, who, perhaps with a bit of sarcasm, claims to hold a “clear-cut position in support of the employers” as the story builds toward a violent showdown. The writing is strong, though the author threatens to sink the ship with an increasingly fragmented structure and an uneven tone, vacillating from graphic sex to quotidian tedium to political screeds. While fans of Genet’s original will likely be disappointed, Lambert has unleashed his own strange beast. (Aug.)