What the movie gets so well is not merely Brandon's attraction to Lana, and hers to her, but also the curious way Brandon's sexual charisma miswires the sexual politics of the situation. For the secret is that, in their way, John and Tom are drawn to Brandon, too. It's a circle of attraction that is extremely unsettling to everybody. They won't get the joke. Agree or not, this is a powerful theory of drama that dates back a mere 4,000 years.
Character is fate, it says.
So there's something about it that has the inevitability of Greek drama. And that's what makes them human.