''Death in Venice'' ( it, Morte a Venezia) is a 1971

historical drama A historical drama (also period drama, costume drama, and period piece) is a work set in a past time period, usually used in the context of film and television. Historical drama includes historical fiction and romance film, romances, adventure f ...

film directed and produced by Italian filmmaker

Luchino Visconti Luchino Visconti di Modrone, Count of Lonate Pozzolo (; 2 November 1906 – 17 March 1976) was an Italian filmmaker, stage director, and screenwriter. A major figure of Italian art and culture in the mid-20th century, Visconti was one of the ...

, adapted by Visconti and

Nicola Badalucco Nicola Badalucco (13 May 1929 – 17 June 2015) was an Italian screenwriter.1912 novella of the same name by German author

Thomas Mann Paul Thomas Mann ( , ; ; 6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novella ...

. It stars Dirk Bogarde as Gustav von Aschenbach and Björn Andrésen as Tadzio, with supporting roles played by Mark Burns,

Marisa Berenson Vittoria Marisa Schiaparelli Berenson (born February 15, 1947) is an American actress and model. She appeared on the front covers of ''Vogue'' and ''Time'', and won the National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as ...

and

Silvana Mangano Silvana Mangano (; 21 April 1930 – 16 December 1989) was an Italian film actress. She was one of a generation of thespians who arose from the neorealist movement, and went on to become a major female star, regarded as a sex symbol for the 19 ...

. It was filmed in

Technicolor Technicolor is a series of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes, the first version dating back to 1916, and followed by improved versions over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black and white films ...

Pasqualino De Santis Pasquale "Pasqualino" De Santis (24 April 1927 – 23 June 1996) was an Italian cinematographer. Biography Born in Fondi, he was the brother of film director Giuseppe De Santis. They worked together in ''Non c'è pace tra gli ulivi'', ''Uomini ...

, with a soundtrack featuring classical composers such as Gustav Mahler,

Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...

and

Modest Mussorgsky Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky ( rus, link=no, Модест Петрович Мусоргский, Modest Petrovich Musorgsky , mɐˈdɛst pʲɪˈtrovʲɪtɕ ˈmusərkskʲɪj, Ru-Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky version.ogg; – ) was a Russian compo ...

. It is the second part of Visconti's thematic "German Trilogy"—preceded by '' The Damned'' (1969) and followed by '' Ludwig'' (1973). The film premiered in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

on 1 March 1971, and was entered into the 1971 Cannes Film Festival. It received positive reviews from critics and won several accolades, including BAFTA Awards for Best Cinematography, Best Production Design, Best Costume Design, and Best Sound. It was nominated for

Best Film This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

, Best Direction, and Best Actor in a Leading Role for Dirk Bogarde. Visconti won the

David di Donatello for Best Director The David di Donatello Award for Best Director (Italian: ''David di Donatello per il miglior regista'') is a film award presented annually by the Accademia del Cinema Italiano (ACI, ''Academy of Italian Cinema'') to recognize the outstanding dire ...

. In 2012, ''Death in Venice'' was ranked the 235th greatest film of all time in the ''

Sight & Sound ''Sight and Sound'' (also spelled ''Sight & Sound'') is a British monthly film magazine published by the British Film Institute (BFI). It conducts the well-known, once-a-decade ''Sight and Sound'' Poll of the Greatest Films of All Time, ongoing ...

'' critics' poll. In 2010, the film was ranked the 14th greatest art house film of all time by ''The Guardian''. In 2016, it was ranked the 27th greatest ''

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

'' film of all time in the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

poll.

Plot

At the turn of the 20th century, composer Gustav von Aschenbach travels to

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

for rest, due to serious health concerns. In Venice, he becomes obsessed with the stunning beauty of an adolescent

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

boy named Tadzio, who is staying with his family at the same Grand Hôtel des Bains on the

Lido Lido may refer to: Geography Africa * Lido, a district in the city of Fez, Morocco Asia * Lido, an area in Chaoyang District, Beijing * Lido, a cinema theater in Siam Square shopping area in Bangkok * Lido City, a resort in West Java owned by MN ...

as Aschenbach. While Aschenbach attempts to find peace and quiet, the rest of the city is gripped by a

cholera Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting and ...

epidemic. City authorities do not inform the holiday-makers of the problem, for fear that they will abandon Venice and leave; however, Aschenbach himself is dying from heart disease. Aschenbach suddenly decides to depart from Venice, but his trunk has left the train station without him. In a moment of impulse, he decides to stay longer, waiting until his trunk has been returned; in fact, he is happy to return to the Grand Hôtel des Bains. Aschenbach continues to observe Tadzio whenever possible, even following him and his family through the narrow streets of Venice. Aschenbach soon realizes that something is seriously wrong, as a disinfectant wash is being applied to public places within the city. Later, when Aschenbach questions the hotel manager about it, the manager downplays the epidemic as nothing of concern. Later, rejuvenated by the continuing presence of Tadzio – though they never actually converse – he visits a barber who, in his words, ".....will restore what belongs to you immediately", dyeing his grey hair black and whitening his face and reddening his lips to try to make him look younger. As he leaves the barber's shop the barber exclaims: "And now the signore may fall in love as soon as he pleases". Once again, Aschenbach follows Tadzio and his family through the tiny streets of Venice, gazing at Tadzio from afar, the latter becoming more aware that he is being gazed upon. Later that evening, Aschenbach dreams that he is conducting a work of his which is received with jeers and boos from an angry crowd. In the climactic scene, Aschenbach sees Tadzio being beaten up on the beach by an older boy. When released, Tadzio walks away from him alone towards the horizon. He suddenly turns back to look at Aschenbach, then turns away to face the sun, and stretches his arm out towards it. Aschenbach too, stretches his hand as if to reach Tadzio, and at that very moment—heightened by the crescendo in Mahler's '' Adagietto''—he dies from a heart attack. A few people notice him collapsed on his chair and alert the hotel staff. They carry Aschenbach's body away.

Cast

Adaptation

While the character Aschenbach in the novella is an author, Visconti changed his profession from writer to composer. This allows the musical score, in particular the Adagietto from the Fifth Symphony by Gustav Mahler, which opens and closes the film, and sections from Mahler's Third Symphony, to represent Aschenbach's writing. Apart from this change, the film is relatively faithful to the book, but with added scenes where Aschenbach and a musician friend debate the degraded

aesthetics Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed thr ...

of his music.

Production

In the second volume of his autobiography, ''Snakes and Ladders'', Bogarde recounts how the film crew created his character's deathly white skin for the final scenes of the film, just as he dies. The makeup department tried various face paints and creams, none of which were satisfactory, as they smeared. When a suitable cream was found and the scenes were shot, Bogarde recalls that his face began to burn terribly. The tube of cream was found and written on the side was "Keep away from eyes and skin": the director had ignored this and had been testing it out, as small patches, on various members of the film crew, before finally having it applied to Bogarde's face. In another volume of his memoirs, ''An Orderly Man'', Dirk Bogarde relates that, after the finished film was screened for them by Visconti in Los Angeles, the Warner Bros. executives wanted to write off the project, fearing it would be banned in the United States for obscenity because of its subject matter. They eventually relented when a gala premiere of ''Death in Venice'' was organized in London, with

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

and

Princess Anne Anne, Princess Royal (Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise; born 15 August 1950), is a member of the British royal family. She is the second child and only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and the only sister of K ...

attending, to gather funds for the sinking Italian city.

Björn Andrésen

In 2003, Andrésen gave an interview to ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' in which he expressed his dislike of the fame ''Death in Venice'' brought him and how he sought to distance himself from the objectifying image he acquired from playing Tadzio. He stated that he now disapproves of the film's subject matter: "Adult love for adolescents is something that I am against in principle. Emotionally perhaps, and intellectually, I am disturbed by it – because I have some insight into what this kind of love is about." He also recounted attending the film's premiere at the Cannes Film Festival: "I was just 16 and Visconti and the team took me to a gay nightclub. Almost all the crew were gay. The waiters at the club made me feel very uncomfortable. They looked at me uncompromisingly as if I was a nice meaty dish...it was the first of many such encounters." In 2021, Juno Films released '' The Most Beautiful Boy in the World'', a tell-all documentary in which Andrésen recollects the years of

predatory Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill th ...

and

pedophilic Pedophilia ( alternatively spelt paedophilia) is a psychiatric disorder in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a primary or exclusive sexual attraction to prepubescent children. Although girls typically begin the process of puberty a ...

behavior he received from the cast, crew, and fans of the film.

Music

The film's score was performed by the Orchestra dell'Accademia de Santa Cecilia, conducted by

Franco Mannino Franco Mannino (25 April 1924 – 1 February 2005) was an Italian film composer, pianist, opera director, playwright and novelist, born in Palermo. He made his debut as pianist at the age of 16. He conducted the National Arts Centre Orchestra ...

, and subsequently released by

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...

. In addition to the music of Gustav Mahler's Third and Fifth Symphonies, which embodied the character and suffering of Aschenbach, Visconti included a number of pieces from other composers. Although overshadowed as they are by the dominance of Mahler, they play an important part in the film's narrative. One is the ballad by Armando Gil, sung by the strolling player, ''Chi con le donne vole aver fortuna'' (He who wants to be successful with the ladies). Another is

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classic ...

's famous piano piece "

Für Elise Bagatelle No. 25 in A minor ( WoO59, Bia515) for solo piano, commonly known as "Für Elise" (, ), is one of Ludwig van Beethoven's most popular compositions. It was not published during his lifetime, only being discovered (by Ludwig Nohl) 40 ye ...

", played by Claudio Gizzi. The third, which is particularly evocative, is

's "Lullaby", which, in the film, heralds Ashenbach's death. It is sung by Mascia Predit, an unforgettable soprano whom Visconti was happily surprised to discover among the extras when filming the last scene. * Hush, hush-a-bye, my little grandchild * Sleep in slumber deep, little peasant's son * Hush, hush-a-bye; our forefathers never saw such a misfortune * But misfortune has come, disaster upon disaster, . . . * Hush, hush, hush-a-bye! * Your small white body lies there in the cradle * Your soul flies in the heavens * Your quiet slumber is guarded by God himself * By your side stand bright angels * Bright angels!

Critical reception

Contemporary reviews when the film was released were mixed. For instance, Roger Ebert wrote: "I think the thing that disappoints me most about Luchino Visconti's "Death in Venice" is its lack of ambiguity. Visconti has chosen to abandon the subtleties of the Thomas Mann novel and present us with a straightforward story of homosexual love, and although that's his privilege, I think he has missed the greatness of Mann's work somewhere along the way." On review aggregator website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film has an approval rating of 70% based on 27 reviews, with an average rating of 7.1/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Luchino Visconti's ''Death in Venice'' is one of his emptier meditations on beauty, but fans of the director will find his knack for sumptuous visuals remains intact."

Derek Malcolm Derek Elliston Michael Malcolm (born 12 May 1932) is an English film critic. Son of J. Douglas Malcolm (died 1967) and Dorothy Vera (died 1964; née Elliston-Taylor), Malcolm was educated at Eton College and Merton College, Oxford. As a child h ...

, in his 1971 review for

wrote, "It is a very slow, precise, and beautiful film, ... an immensely formidable achievement, engrossing in spite of any doubts." Film historian Lawrence J. Quirk wrote in his study ''The Great Romantic Films'' (1974): "Some shots of Björn Andrésen, the Tadzio of the film, could be extracted from the frame and hung on the walls of the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

or the

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Vatican City, the city-state ruled by the pope in Rome, including St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum The Holy See * The Holy See, the governing body of the Catholic Church and sovereign entity recognized ...

in Rome." He says Andrésen did not represent just a pretty youngster as an object of perverted lust, but that novelist Mann and director-screenwriter Visconti intended him as a symbol of beauty in the realm of

Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (; 6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known as Michelangelo (), was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was insp ...

's ''

David David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

'' or

Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 14522 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, Drawing, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially res ...

's ''

Mona Lisa The ''Mona Lisa'' ( ; it, Gioconda or ; french: Joconde ) is a half-length portrait painting by Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci. Considered an archetypal masterpiece of the Italian Renaissance, it has been described as "the best known ...

'', the beauty that moved

Dante Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called (modern Italian: '' ...

to "seek ultimate aesthetic

catharsis Catharsis (from Greek , , meaning "purification" or "cleansing" or "clarification") is the purification and purgation of emotions through dramatic art, or it may be any extreme emotional state that results in renewal and restoration. In its lite ...

in the distant figure of Beatrice." In his 2003 review for ''The Guardian'',

Peter Bradshaw Peter Bradshaw (born 19 June 1962) is a British writer and film critic. He has been chief film critic at ''The Guardian'' since 1999, and is a contributing editor at ''Esquire''. Early life and education Bradshaw was educated at Haberdasher ...

hailed Dirk Bogarde's performance as one of the greatest of all time, concluding "This is exalted film-making." In 2011, writer

Will Aitken Will Aitken is an American-Canadian novelist, journalist and film critic.Richard Burnett"Montreal author Will Aitken revives Death in Venice". '' Xtra!'', January 26, 2012. Originally from Terre Haute, Indiana, he has been based in Montreal, Quebec ...

published ''Death in Venice: A Queer Film Classic'', a critical analysis of the film, as part of

Arsenal Pulp Press Arsenal Pulp Press is a Canadian independent book publishing company, based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The company publishes a broad range of titles in both fiction and non-fiction, focusing primarily on underrepresented genres such as un ...

's Queer Film Classics series. On September 1, 2018, the film was screened in the Venice Classics section at the 75th Venice International Film Festival. The film was released by the Criterion Collection featuring a remastered edition on

Blu-Ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...

on February 19, 2019. On January 29, 2021, a documentary about Björn Andrésen, '' The Most Beautiful Boy in the World'', premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.

Awards and honors

Notes

References

External links

* * * *
''Death in Venice: Ruinous Infatuation''
– an essay by Dennis Lim at

The Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home video, home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scho ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Death In Venice (Film) 1971 films 1971 drama films 1971 LGBT-related films 1970s English-language films 1970s historical drama films English-language French films English-language Italian films Films à clef Films about classical music and musicians Films about sexual repression Films about viral outbreaks Films based on German novels Films based on works by Thomas Mann Films directed by Luchino Visconti Films set in 1911 Films set on beaches Films set in hotels Films set in Venice French historical drama films French LGBT-related films Gustav Mahler Italian historical drama films Italian LGBT-related films LGBT-related drama films 1970s Italian films 1970s French films