Luchino Visconti-Morte a Venezia (1971)

Abroad on a rest holiday, composer Gustav Aschenbach (Dick Bogarde) is to all the world reserved and civilized. But when he glimpses someone who inspires him to give way to a secret passion, it foreshadows his doom. Death in Venice (DVD)



Director Luchino Visconti (Rocco and His Brothers, The Damned) transforms Thomas Mann's classic novel into "a masterwork of power and beauty" (William Wolf, Cue). Like Aschenbach, Visconti is an artist obsessed: his movies are awash in mood, period detail and seething emotions beneath placid surfaces. Earning its maker a Cannes Film Festival Special 25th Anniversary Prize, Death in Venice - with a soundtrack feast of Gustav Mahler music and a haunting Bogarde performance-is Visconti at his best. Death in Venice (DVD)



Luchino Visconti's adaptation of the Thomas Mann novel is the very definition of sumptuous: the costumes and sets, the special geography of Venice, and the breathtaking cinematography combine to form a heady experience. At the center of this gorgeousness is Aschenbach (Dirk Bogarde in a meticulous performance), a controlled intellectual who unexpectedly finds himself obsessed by the vision of a 14-year-old boy while on a convalescent vacation in 1911. Visconti has turned Aschenbach into a composer, which accounts for the lush excerpts from Mahler on the soundtrack (Bogarde is meant to look like Mahler, too). Even if it tends to hit the nail on the head a little too forcefully, and even if Visconti can test one's patience with lingering looks at crowds at the beach and hotel dining rooms, Death in Venice creates a lushness rare in movies. For some viewers, that will be enough. (amazon.com --Robert Horton)



In this adaptation of the Thomas Mann novel, avant-garde composer Gustave Aschenbach (loosely based on Gustav Mahler) travels to a Venetian seaside resort in search of repose after a period of artistic and personal stress. But he finds no peace there, for he soon develops a troubling attraction to an adolescent boy, Tadzio, on vacation with his family. The boy embodies an ideal of beauty that Aschenbach has long sought and he becomes infatuated. However, the onset of a deadly pestilence threatens them both physically and represents the corruption that compromises and threatens all ideals. (http://imdb.com/title/tt0067445/plotsummary)



In the Visconti version, the emphasis is more on the physical aspects of the story. Never has Venice looked more beautiful and alluring, more decadent and effete. If you've read the novella, it's like having the descriptions on its pages come to life. Dirk Bogarde gives an outstanding performance as Gustav von Aschenbach. Although he has very little dialogue, he conveys the bitterness, aroused passion and finally, pitiful yearning of Aschenbach through facial expressions alone. (amazon.com)



Bjorn Andresen, the actor who plays Tadzio, the beautiful young boy who is the object of Aschenbach's desire, was perfectly cast. He too plays the part with facial expressions and gestures. The Tadzio character is pivotal to the story, so any actor in this role must be worthy of inspiring passion and desire. Visconti, with his incredible eye for beauty, knew exactly what was he doing. And changing Ashenbach from a writer to a composer based on Gustav Mahler, and then using Mahler's music, especially the Adagietto from the 5th Symphony, was another brilliant stroke. (amazon.com)












Links to previous movie posts:

From 1# to 170# please refer to page :
170 Michelangelo Antonioni-Identificazione di una donna (1982)

171 Erick Zonca-La Vie rêvée des anges (1998)
172 Miklós Jancsó-Még kér a nép ('Red Psalm') (1972)
173 F.W. Murnau-Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (1922)
174 Werner Herzog-Nosferatu, Phantom der Nacht (1979)
175 Peter Greenaway-The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989)
176 Yasujiro Ozu-Tokyo monogatari ('Tokyo Story') (1953)
177 Abbas Kiarostami-Ta'm e guilass ('Taste of Cherry') (1997)
178 Bertrand Bonello-Le Pornographe (2001)
179 François Truffaut-L'Homme qui aimait les femmes (1977)
180 György Pálfi-Hukkle (2002)
181 Gillo Pontecorvo-La Battaglia di Algeri (1966)
182 Paolo e Vittorio Taviani-La Notte di San Lorenzo (1982)
183 Aleksandr Dovzhenko-Arsenal (1928)
184 Béla Tarr-Werckmeister harmóniák (2000)
185 Jean-Claude Lauzon - Léolo (1992)
186 Otar Iosseliani-Pastorali (1975)
187 Chris Marker-Sans soleil (1982)
188 Krzysztof Kieslowski-Dekalog 4 (1988)
189 Krzysztof Kieslowski-Dekalog 7 (1988)
190 Krzysztof Kieslowski-Dekalog 8 (1988)
191 Krzysztof Kieslowski-Dekalog 9 (1988)
192 Krzysztof Kieslowski-Dekalog 10 (1988)
193 Robert Bresson-Lancelot du Lac (1974)
194 Tsai Ming-liang - Ch'ing shaonien na cha ('Rebels of the Neon God') (1992)
195 Nuri Bilge Ceylan-Iklimler ('Climates') (2006)
196 Jean-Luc Godard - Soigne ta droite (1986)
197 Milos Forman-Lásky jedné plavovlásky ('Loves of a Blonde') (1965)
198 Luchino Visconti-Morte a Venezia (1971)