A wild gay extravagance

In a gag that combines the absurd humor of Top Secret! with the clear-line animation and vivid colors of Steven Universe, the climax of the very funny and at times brilliant Jim Queen includes a Trojan (and very cute) unicorn from whose voluminous anus muscular gay men emerge. Christopher Nolan would have been horrified by the idea, but there is no better outcome for the wild odyssey through the Parisian gay multiverse (from gyms to nightclubs, from cruising spots to saunas) that the two protagonists experience – Jim, an egomaniacal influencer with perfect abs, and Lucien, his young admirer – to find the cure for heterosis, a new and terrible virus that transforms gay men into heterosexuals.

Despite the thematic connection, this French adult animated film is closer to the irreverent parody of spoof movies than to other, more biting references in gay comedy like Ralf König, who in his comics used humor to criticize realities such as the HIV epidemic. Leaving aside the pertinent attack on right-wing conservatism and the commitment to tearing down the categories that divide the gay community, some people could reproach Jim Queen for not including more diverse expressions of the LGTBIQA+ collective. But that would, perhaps, be another film, and not one that closes with a vindication of anal sex, freely and generously practiced, as the only cure against the heterosexual epidemic.