Bohemian Rhapsody

Bohemian Rhapsody tells the story of the meteoric rise of British rock band, Queen, culminating in their legendary performance at Live Aid in 1985. The film presents a celebration of Queen, their music, and the supreme charisma and convention-shattering talent of Freddie Mercury.

Beginning in London in the 1970s, a young Indian Parsi refugee from Zanzibar, named Farrokh “Freddie”, Bulsara watches a performance of the band ‘Smile’ at a pub, after which he meets guitarist, Brian May, and drummer, Roger Taylor. Following the gig, young Freddie impresses them with his vocal ability. With Freddie as lead singer and John Deacon as bassist, the band take form and soon begin gigging across Britain. Freddie begins a relationship with Mary Austin. The band changes its name to Queen and Freddie legally changes his name to Freddie Mercury. The band eventually sign with EMI and their first album is a success; it charts in the USA, where Queen then begin a sold-out tour. During the tour Freddie starts to question his sexuality.

The plot later tracks the band’s creation of the song ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’. Freddie’s determination to achieve his artistic vision leads to the song becoming a smash hit. On Queen’s world tour, Freddie begins an affair with the band’s manager, Paul Prenter. When confronted by now fiancé, Mary, about this affair, Freddie discloses to her that he is bisexual. In turn, Mary tells him that she believes he is gay. Whilst Freddie and Mary end their engagement, they remain close friends. Freddie’s turbulent relationship with Paul (who is proving to be highly manipulative) creates strains within the band. Freddie’s interest in pursuing different genres of music also deepens tensions. This is compounded by the pressures of the press, who are now hounding Freddie and bombarding him with questions about his personal life.

Queen are banned from MTV following the video for ‘I want to break free’ in which Freddie is famously dressed in drag. Intra-band tensions escalate further. Freddie signs a $4 million solo record deal and moves to Munich to record it. Here, he becomes entrenched in drugs and alcohol struggles, with Paul. Freddie is becoming increasingly ill.

Freddie eventually severs ties with Paul after discovering that Paul withheld news of the offer that Queen had been given: the offer to perform at Live Aid at Wembley Stadium. HIV/AIDS has become a prominent news story and Freddie soon discovers that he has the virus. He tells his bandmates and they are very supportive. Queen perform at Live Aid, to great acclaim, contributing to the overwhelming success of the event. The film’s closing text recounts that Freddie died from AIDS-related pneumonia on 24th November 1991.

The film is directed by Bryan Singer, written by Anthony McCarten, and produced by Graham King, and former Queen manager Jim Beach.