Bohemian Rhapsody

**Bohemian Rhapsody** is a 2018 film starring Rami Malek, Lucy Boynton, Gwilym Lee, Ben Hardy, Joseph Mazzello, Aidan Gillen, Allen Leech, Tom Hollander and Mike Myers, directed by Bryan Singer, written by Anthony McCarten and produced by Jim Beach and Graham King.

The film was a financial success as it generated a profit of $351 million.

## Plot

In 1970 London, Farrokh "Freddie" Bulsara, an Indian Parsi refugee from Zanzibar, works as a baggage handler at Heathrow Airport. After seeing the band Smile perform at a pub, Freddie encounters Mary Austin, and meets the drummer, Roger Taylor, and guitarist, Brian May. Learning their lead singer, Tim Staffell, has quit, Freddie offers to join and demonstrates his vocal ability. Freddie and Mary begin dating.

With Freddie as lead singer and bassist John Deacon, the band sells out gigs across Britain. Freddie urges them to think bigger, selling their van to book Trident Studios to record their debut album. An A&R rep from EMI Records, watching the band experiment, asks sound engineer Roy Thomas Baker for their demos. Freddie changes the band's name to Queen, and legally changes his own name to Freddie Mercury.

The band signs with John Reid, Elton John's manager, and receives a contract with EMI. An appearance on Top of the Pops gives Queen a hit record, "Killer Queen". After touring to promote the album, Mary and Freddie become engaged. The album hits the charts in America and the band embarks on a sold-out U.S. tour, where Freddie questions his sexuality.

In 1975, Queen records their fourth album, A Night at the Opera, but leaves EMI when executive Ray Foster refuses to release the operatic "Bohemian Rhapsody" as the album's lead single due to its six-minute length. Freddie has DJ Kenny Everett debut the song on the radio; despite mixed reviews, it becomes a smash hit. On Queen's world tour, Freddie begins an affair with Paul Prenter, the band's day-to-day manager. Confronted by Mary, Freddie comes out to her as bisexual, although she assures him he is gay. They end their engagement, but they continue to remain as friends and she moves next door when he purchases an extravagant house in 1980.

Tensions arise in the band as Freddie sinks into debauchery with the manipulative Paul. After throwing a lavish party, Freddie flirts with Jim Hutton, a waiter, who tells Freddie to find Hutton when he learns to like himself. Following a successful show performing "We Will Rock You", Paul enlists Reid to propose that Freddie pursue a solo career and disband Queen, prompting Freddie to fire Reid without consulting the band, furthering their strain. At a press conference promoting Queen's 1982 album Hot Space, Freddie is bombarded with questions about his personal life.

Freddie's relationship with his bandmates further sours after their music video for “I Want to Break Free”, in which the band appears in drag, is banned from MTV. He announces his $4 million solo deal with CBS Records, effectively breaking up the band. In 1984, Freddie moves to Munich to work on his first solo album, Mr. Bad Guy, finding himself lost in drugs, alcohol, and gay orgies with Paul, and becomes increasingly ill. Mary, now pregnant by her new partner and concerned about Freddie, urges him to return to the band, as they have been offered a spot in Bob Geldof's benefit concert, Live Aid at Wembley Stadium.

Discovering that Paul withheld this news from him, Freddie severs ties with him, having finally had enough of Paul's lies and behavior, but Paul retaliates by going public about Freddie's sexual escapades. Freddie returns to London and reconciles with his bandmates after they agree that their songs will now be credited by Queen as a whole, while their new manager Jim Beach asks them for their answer about participating in Live Aid. They agree and are given a last-minute slot. With HIV/AIDS spreading worldwide, Freddie discovers that he has contracted the virus; he reveals this to his supportive bandmates.

On the day of Live Aid, Freddie reconnects with Jim, Mary, and his family. The band performs "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Radio Ga Ga", "Hammer to Fall", "Crazy Little Thing Called Love", "We Will Rock You" and "We Are the Champions", helping increase donations and turning the event into a massive success. The film ends with inter-titles, stating that Freddie died on November 24, 1991 at 45 from AIDS-related pneumonia, remaining close with Jim and Mary for the rest of his life, and that the Mercury Phoenix Trust was founded in his honour to help those living with AIDS.