Freddie Mercury and Bohemian Rhapsody

The movie Bohemian Rhapsody looks at the 70s rock band Queen and its lead singer, Freddie Mercury, played brilliantly by actor Rami Malek.

The critics panned the movie saying it played too safe with the complex real-life story of Mercury, his flamboyant life as a gay man, his long relationship with Mary Austin (Lucy Boynton), his Parsi or Persian family, and his death from AIDS.

I thought the film provided an important portrayal of Mercury and Queen. It showed the human side of the band members and their struggle with success, with sharing the limelight, and with Mercury’s moods and genius.

The sexual revolution of the 1960s and 70s, the Hippy Movement, and the rise of heavy metal music, rock, funk, and disco were all transformative. Janis Joplin, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Queen, and of course the Beatles all shaped not just the music scene, but society, in extraordinary ways.

Queen, though, had Freddie Mercury and that made them unique.

I found a distinct sadness in him all the way through his career. In spite of soaring success, wealth, and international popularity he fought intense loneliness. He attempted to fill that with booze, drugs, and endless sex.

When Mary began to grow distant from him, mainly because of his gay relationships, he began to flounder personally. Mary adored him, and he her, but she, understandably, could not reconcile staying romantically committed to a gay man. Mercury wanted both worlds, a loving pseudo wife and the freedom to express his real sexuality. It was impossible for Mary to live that way and so they separated.

He bought her an apartment across the street from his lavish London mansion. There is a scene where he calls her and asks her to come over. It is late and she says she can’t. Freddie asks her to go to her window and turn on the lamp. Below she sees a light in a window in his place. The longing in him is so moving. He needed Mary’s love, her warmth, her presence in his life. He often told her she was the only friend he had and he didn’t want to lose her. We see Mary’s hurt in the scene as well.

The wildly popular song he and the band wrote, Bohemian Rhapsody, seems to me to be an apt description of Mercury’s life. The song, six minutes long, is a strange mix of lyrics, sounds, music, tempo, and range.

It begins, “Is this the real life? / Is this just fantasy? / Caught in a landslide /No escape from reality / Open your eyes / Look up to the skies and see / I'm just a poor boy / I need no sympathy / Because I'm easy come, easy go / Little high, little low / Any way the wind blows / Doesn't really matter to me”

And there you have a brief look into Mercury’s own life and the philosophy he lived by.

I disagree with the critics who said more needed to be shown about him being gay, more details about him having AIDS, that the movie portrayal was shallow. 

What more was needed? His personal life was something he intended to keep private. He didn't exploit it and he wasn't ashamed of it.

He didn’t hide that he was gay. Mary knew he was long before he ever admitted it to her. He was sad, but not pathetic. He was lonely, but not desperate. He was arrogant, but not mean. Mostly he just wanted to sing, play music, and perform.

The fact he was gay didn’t require more scrutiny of his life. Or, that he had contracted AIDS. His torment, however mild or severe, was not that he was gay. It was how society, and even his family, treated him as odd or messed up. That still goes on today, making being gay some kind of curse or emotional deformity, or religious obscenity. It is unfair. And false.

Mercury was a brilliant, wild, temperamental superstar. But he was also human, hungry for love that transcended sex, drugs and alcohol, and the burdens of fame. “Is this the real life,” he sings. “Is this just fantasy?”

Those are questions we all must ask if we are to find meaning in the most significant experiences of life—marriage, relationships, family, beliefs, work, and play.

© 2019 Timothy Moody