Trailer Trashin’: Nicole Kidman is Werner Herzog’s Queen of the Desert
Hello again, dear readers. I’m guessing a lot of you got out to see Jurassic World this past weekend, considering how much money it made, and I hope that you enjoyed it as much as I did. And as the summer movie season continues, the Trailer Trashin’ column is back from its recent absence, with a 
look at the international trailer for director Werner Herzog’s new film Queen of the Desert.
Premise: A chronicle of the life of Gertrude Bell (Nicole Kidman), an English traveler, writer, archeologist, explorer, cartographer, and political attaché for the British Empire at the dawn of the twentieth century.
My take: German filmmaker Werner Herzog is a fascinating figure in every sense of the word. He has directed dozens of films, both fictional stories and documentaries, and established a style unlike that of anyone else in cinema. In the process, he has gone all over the world and done things that would be unbelievable if they weren’t true, from dragging a 300-ton steamboat over land for his film Fitzcarraldo (1982) to being shot in the stomach with an air rifle during an interview outside and dismissing it as “not a significant bullet.” Herzog’s latest film is Queen of the Desert, an epic biographical drama about Gertrude Bell, the intelligent, spirited, ambitious Englishwoman who became an important political player in the Middle East in the early twentieth century, most notably helping establish the Hashemite dynasties in Iraq and what is now Jordan.
The trailer starts with a shot of the windswept desert. In voiceover, we hear Gertrude Bell say “Every step in the desert, life and fire claim me, and I’m consumed,” as she sits in the middle of a camp and writes in her journal. At a high-society party in England, we hear a man say: “I would like to introduce Gertrude Lowthian Bell.” People raise their glasses to her. A woman’s voice says “You will not scare the young men with your intelligence?” as we see people mingling and dancing. Gertrude herself looks rather uncomfortable about the whole thing. At a big fancy house out in the countryside, Gertrude stands before a man and a woman sitting in chairs. “Get me out of here, anywhere, please!” she begs them. The man – possibly Winston Churchill (Christopher Fulford) – asks “What about Tehran?” Gertrude smiles.
More beauty shots of the desert, plus Gertrude and two companions walking through a Middle Eastern marketplace. “It is the secret epicenter of the world,” she says in voiceover, “I love it here.” A shot of two figures riding camels follows and Gertrude says, “It’s the Arab nations who are awakening, this is
their achievement,” as she stands next to several people who are having their photograph taken. We then see Gertrude in the mountains, sitting next to T. E. Lawrence (Robert Pattinson); for those who don’t know him, he was the British archeologist, military officer, and diplomat who became famously known as “Lawrence of Arabia.” He says to her “This is true, Gertrude darling.” “Darling?” she responds with a slight are-you-kidding-me tone. “I’m not sure the right man for you had been born yet.” he continues.
Two people ride on horseback through the desert. We see Gertrude meeting Henry Cadogan (James Franco), who was a British army officer, civil servant, and politician. We hear him say what sounds like “Gertrude, you’re very smart,” followed by a shot of them in bed together – because who wouldn’t after a line like that, right? We see shots of Gertrude riding a camel, a group of people clustered around a table at night, and a bunch of guys on horseback with guns. Over this, we hear a man’s voice say “A woman alone, venturing out in the desert in times war, is dangerous,” and as the line ends, we see that the speaker is a British army officer.
We see Gertrude and three other people crawling over a dune toward a large camp. A voice says “They’ll spot the tracks. No one gets out.” We then see Gertrude speaking to a man. “Even if you do not hear from me for several months, pay no attention and send no one,” she says. Her line ends on an ominous point-of-view shot through the crosshairs of a gun. A shot of Gertrude and Cadogan together. “Why did you come?” he asks, but she doesn’t answer. We then see Gertrude speaking to Charles Doughty-Wylie (Damian Lewis), a British army officer. “I have longing for you,” he says. “Please, my heart is not ready,” she replies. Next is Gertrude in camp with Lawrence, who is holding two lion cubs. “We have to play their game, though it’s dangerous to be sincere,” he says to her, but it’s not clear who 
or what is the “they” he refers to; by the way, I have to say that “And Robert Pattinson as T. E. Lawrence” was a phrase I never expected to see in a movie trailer. Gertrude looks out upon the desert, as we hear her say “I’m not afraid.”
Gertrude stands alone in the desert, as a group of men holding rifles rush over a dune toward her. “What is it that attracts you?” asks a man’s voice, revealed to be a British army officer speaking to Gertrude. “It’s their freedom. It’s their poetry of life,” she says, as we cut to Gertrude inside an ornate dwelling, sitting with a group of old men watching a woman dancing. We then see Gertrude among a large group of people, all riding camels or horses. “If I die,” she says to them, “it shall be at the hands of your Sheikh. Take me to your Sheikh now!”
There are several quick shots of the relationship between Gertrude and Cadogan. Gertrude holding back tears. The two of them running through a fort in the desert. The two of them kissing. Over this, we hear Cadogan say “Wherever you are in the world, wherever I might be, we belong to each other.” We next see a line of camels crossing the desert, followed by a large group of men gathered outside a tent. We hear a man say “She is the maker of kings. She has been crowned queen of the desert.” The speaker is revealed to be a Middle Eastern man wearing what looks like a Catholic priest’s black outfit and collar, and with a falcon perched on his arm. Gertrude says “You will always have my heart,” but it’s not clear which of her suitors she’s addressing, if any.
I’ve been a fan of Werner Herzog ever since I first discovered him and his work back in college. I’ve enjoyed every single one of his films that I’ve seen so far, and I’m always excited to hear news of his upcoming projects. That said, this trailer makes Queen of the Desert look like more of a conventional film than what we’ve come to expect from Herzog. Gertrude Bell is a fascinating figure, and absolutely should have her story told, but this looks a bit too much like a standard Hollywood biopic in moments. But I will always give Werner Herzog the benefit of the doubt, and I definitely plan on checking out Queen of the Desert at some point.
ANTICIPATION: All hail the queen? Maybe.
Starring: Nicole Kidman, James Franco, Damian Lewis, Robert Pattinson, Christopher Fulford, Mark Lewis Jones, Jenny Agutter, Holly Earl, Michael Jenn, Assaad Bouab, Jay Abdo, David Calder, and Nick Waring
Director: Werner Herzog
Writer: Werner Herzog
Timothy Monforton
