Morte a Venezia

Plot synopsis:
The protagonist, Gustav von Aschenbach, travels to Venice for health reasons. There, he becomes obsessed with the stunning beauty of an adolescent Polish boy named Thaddeus who is staying with his family at the same Grand Hôtel des Bains on the Lido as Aschenbach.
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 of his music.
While Aschenbach attempts to find peace and quiet, the rest of the city is gripped by a cholera epidemic, and the city authorities do not inform the holiday-makers of the problem for fear that they will leave. As Aschenbach and the other guests make day-trips into the city centre, they begin to realize that something is seriously wrong. Aschenbach decides to leave, but in a moment of impulse decides to stay. However, he himself is dying.
Rejuvenated by the presence of Thaddeus—though they never actually converse—he visits the barber who, in his words, "returns to you merely what has been lost", 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 Sir is ready to fall in love as soon as he pleases". Aschenbach continues to gaze at Thaddeus from afar, the latter more aware that he is being gazed at. In the climactic scene, Aschenbach sees Thaddeus being beaten up on the beach by an older boy. When released, Thaddeus 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 Thaddeus, and at that very moment—heightened by the crescendo in Mahler's Adagietto—he dies from the cholera infection. A few people notice him collapsed on his chair and alert the hotel staff. They carry Aschenbach's body away.

Tags: tragedy, romantic, flashback

Review:
Luchino Visconti's "Death in Venice" is a masterpiece of utterly haunting beauty that will capture the imagination of anyone interested in the screen's capacity for breathtaking images.
It is about the struggle within the soul of a man, Gustav von Aschenbach, a composer vacationing in the Venice of 1911.In Mann's book Aschenbach was a writer, but Visconti asserted that the book had been inspired by events in the life of Gustav Mahler, whose music, mostly the haunting adagietto of his Fifth Symphony, is used as background (and foreground) music, helping create an almost tactile mood of melancholy.Dirk Bogarde plays Aschenbach, a man possessed by feelings of failure, haunted by the grief he and his wife (Marisa Berensen) shared over the death of their daughter.
In one horrifying scene a barber "re-makes" Aschenbach's face so that it is both a grotesque parody of youth and an ominous death mask.Visconti's skill in recreating lush period detail, to paint family-album poses of aristocracy, to make beauty seem dangerous, to underline the complexity of human psychology, are all in evidence here.
The color photography by Pasqualino De Santis, and the costumes by Piero Tosi are excellent.The ending of the film is unforgettable: Gustav languishing on the beach, the Polish folk song in the background, the boy Tadziu in the water turning into an angelic apparition with extended hand.
He becomes obsessed with the boy and amidst the backdrop of a city quietly dying with a plague, he simply observes and ponders, trying his best to keep his desires at bay.The core of the film is in Dirk Bogarde's performance.
We see the awe, the pain, the fever, the fear, the desire and the ultimate surrender all in that forlorn face.The music (most of it by Gustave Mahler) also reflects all this, and Visconti's incredible photography of the decaying Venice pinpoints the end of an era in a way that is both dreamlike and unsentimental (despite the romantic quality of the film).The film is slow and langorous, like the hush of the ocean sweeping the shore.
With hardly any dialog it captivates a viewer with the beautiful cinematography, the fine acting, and, above all, the Mahler's music without which the movie simply could not exist."Death in Venice" is a stunning Luchino Visconti's adaptation of the Thomas Mann novella about a famous composer (in the novella he was a writer but making him a composer in a movie was a great idea that works admirably) Gustav von Aschenbach (loosely based on Gustav Mahler) who travels to Venice in the summer of 1911 to recover from personal losses and professional failures.
If he could, Ashenbach probably would've said, "I was able to witness one of the faces of perfection, I could not bear it but I was chosen to learn that it exists here, in this world and I can die in peace now because it did happen to me." Unforgettable music, Gustav Mahler's haunting adagietto of his Fifth Symphony found perfect use in a perfect movie.
Adapted by Mr. Visconti himself who decided to focus on the Venice chapter only as well as to modify the occupation of the main protagonist, Gustav von Aschenbach who becomes a music composer (highly inspired by the composer Mahler), the film was also inspired by other Thomas Mann's novel like 'Doctor Faustus' or by Marcel Proust's writing.
Often reduced and presented as a decadent film in which homosexuality and pedophilia are the main themes, the novel like the movie deals in fact with a much more complex and powerful dynamic.Indeed the film is based on an equation between Death and Beauty as an aphorism for Perfection and in which the results is Time (or the lack of it).
Does von Aschenbach desire Tadzio or is he fascinated by what he represents: Perfect Beauty?The challenge of Luchino Visconti was to apply a superb cinematography and a precise narrative method to a film that in nature deals with complex concepts.
The main role is played by Dirk Bogarde, a British actor, who is making the best of his last days longing for a love he can never achieve.The background music by Mahler is very sombre and fits the tragic ending.
The Perfectionism Of Visconti+The Music Of Mahler+The Beauty Of Bogarde=Perfect Film.
I must say I reluted to see "Death In Venice",because been a great fan of composer Gustav Mahler,I though the film was an insult.But one day I saw a film called "Modesty Blaise",and I sat my eyes in the most beautiful actor I have ever seen:Dirk Bogarde.When I find out that he played the leading role in "Death In Venice",I decided to leave all my prejudices aside,get all my courage and rent the film.I can only say one thing:Sublime.Gustav Von Aschenbach is the perfect man.He is beautiful,handsome,talented,sweet.The fact that he falls in love for someone of the opposite sex is something secondary.All that he needed was someone to understand his genius,that is the one thing that he did not find in Venice."Death In Venice",is a masterpiece of a lifetime.Dirk Bogarde is the most talented and beautiful actor of our lifetime.
The people who go into beauty--ascetics--death perfection of art on and on (and the movie does present the story this way) are missing the real story.The real story comes out better in the book = a late middle aged man (Dirk Bogarde is too young and handsome for the role) becomes infatuated with a 15 year old boy.
My Rating : 10/10 ♠ MASTERPIECE ♠This is not for the average viewer.It is arthouse, creative, desolate territory and only a few can truly appreciate it.I think it's a prerequisite to be drowsy to really enjoy this film and absorb it's beauty which is other-worldly and...dreamy.Gustav Mahler's haunting adagietto of his Fifth Symphony found perfect use in a perfect movie.
It reflects every emotion of the main character - it sobs, it longs, it begs for hope, and it summarises the idea that once you are blessed to encounter beauty you are condemned to die.The movie for the viewer is perhaps similar to what the boy was for the aging composer....
This is an adaptation of the Thomas Mann novel , avant-garde composer Gustave Aschenbach (Dick Bogarde) , loosely based on Gustav Mahler character , being well portrayed in this brooding as well as slow-moving classic movie .
The celebrated story of a man obsessed with ideal beauty written by prestigious Thomas Mann is magnificently brought to the screen , concerning about desire , homosexuality , children lost , plagues and adult situations throughout .Thought-provoking character studio of a reputed artist , his mishaps , digresses , loves his homosexuality and continuous search for beauty and perfection .
Impressive and immortal musical score by Mahler , in fact his Third and Fifth Symphonies were adapted as background music for the film ; being excellently conducted by orchestra director Fanco Mannino.This studied as well as slow motion picture was masterfully directed by Luchino Visconti .
Yeah okay it's a European art house movie so I wasn't expecting Charles Bronson to massacre hordes of bad guys but even so I did expect some substance if not an actual plot The film revolves around Professor Gustav Von Aschenbach visiting Venice .
The final scene, in which the lovesick middle aged man watching a beautiful boy as his absurd makeup runs and he dies of the plague is one of the most horrific and sad in film history.
A critic wrote of a famous Wagner conductor, "He doesn't beat time, he beats eternity."  For all I know this was meant as a compliment.I get the feeling that around the early 1970s directors worked out how to make the slowest possible films: there's "Death in Venice", and there's "Solyaris".
Famed Italian Director Luchino Visconti takes viewers back to the year 1911 in Venice, Italy, the setting for a story about an aging composer named Gustav von Aschenbach (Dirk Bogarde) who settles into an elegant hotel at a seaside resort, to recuperate from mental trauma.
Thematically, Aschenbach, as well as the boy, and even the city of Venice all symbolize various concepts and their interrelationships that include morality, art, beauty, perfection, death, and the passage of time.To some extent one's reaction to this film will depend on what one thinks of Aschenbach.
Yes I have to say I pity you for not realising the beauty of this film, and the pure art of the DRAWN OUT scenes you mentioned, which are deliberately so to give a sense of lost time and longing.
I remember watching the film "Death in Venice" in a world literature class, where the students had been charged with reading the laborious, but brillant novel by Thomas Mann.
There is at least as much in the movie that indicates he wants a carnal relationship with the boy, as there is to support that he's undergoing a chaste, parental paean to lost youth and fleeting beauty.Twenty minutes into this (the longest 20 minutes of your life) 'Death in Venice' has staked out some pretty dire territory: dwelling on the obvious / remaining in an undeveloped holding pattern.
All of Death in Venice resembles that movie's indulgent, climactic ballroom sequence, which receives uniform critical raves, but which is too long, overstates points already made in better portions of the film, and brings things to a complete standstill..
What matters is the pacing--not the running time.UPDATE: Since seeing "Death in Venice", I have watched quite a few more Visconti films and realize I do like most of his films.
The combinmation is the X of death.While Thomas novella clearly stand on its own, its great beauty should be appreciated also with the Heinrich's short story very much in mind.The choices made in their filming should be appreciated in that context as well.In Der Blaue Engel, Heinrich Mann charts the sexually driven downward plunge(for that is the visible curve of Rath's life), to inevitable and premature death, for a highly respected figure who has reached down to embrace a shallow and false artist and artistry (one may conclude).
Tadzio isn't necessarily leading him on -- he's looking at him; Visconti just zooms in is all.The film doesn't detail Gustav as being gay -- Tadzio isn't even really male, he's a prettified version of a boy (delicate, pale, wispy, with golden locks) that everyone seems to love (including one gorgeous, slightly older young man who he wrestles with).
this film is not about the story...it is about atmosphere and art...the plot is incidental unlike the book...the director has opted for feelings rather than interest...the photography is surreal and the feeling of actually being in a real place at a real time is overwhelming....the time frame makes you feel that you're following live events...the performances are perfect...no one appears to be acting...just being themselves..the music is as perfecta choice as there ever was and if i was marooned on an island with one film...this would be it..i feel sorry for those without the intellect, appreciation of aesthetisism and impatience to enjoy this masterpiece.
Terrible and this includes basically all the flashbacks-- but especially those featuring his musical cohort in Germany--what terrible direction.Knowing the story however I was able to enjoy the re-creation of 1910 Venice which was very well done and must have cost a fortune--just for the costumes.Like another reviewer stated so well the actor who plays Tadzio (Bjorn Andresen) does not capture the character in the book...he just isn't handsome enough is basically the problem too thin too feminine.
Like wise the actor playing Von Aschenbach (Dirk Bogarde) tries his best but you don't get the convincing story the book gives you of his vortex like descent into various humiliations as he becomes infatuated with the 15 year old Tadzio.
Dirk Bogarde has the opposite problem he is too young and good looking to need these sorts of humiliating disasters.The movie tries to convey that Tadzio represent the muse of art or some such nonsense (Aschenback was in love with the intellectual idea of beauty and art)...
This captivation was a pastiche composed of many elements: The extraordinary shots directed by Visconte, primarily his love of long, languorous shots of people dining, swimming, walking and containing a significant character passing through this mass of people; the cinematographers brilliant interpretation of Visconti's shot selection; the acting by the principles without over-riding dialog and conveying the scenes complexity through facial features alone.It is true: young people watching this film for the first time must be aware that they are watching a unique film, a film that could not be made in 2006.
Unfortunately they tragically minimize the amazing beauty and depth of this work and others like it from those years.Please, if you have not seen Death in Venice, rent a copy and immerse yourself in a film and story from another time.
It doesn't (and probably can't) capture the philosophical complexity of Thomas Mann's novella, but Luchino Visconti's film does create a sense of sensual decay and presses home the idea of the importance of grasping hold of the opportunities that life offers.But it goes beyond that.
It is a beautiful film to look at  almost creating Impressionist canvases on occasion  and, by changing Aschenbach from Mann's novelist to a Mahler-esquire composer, and using Mahler's third and fifth symphonies (the Allegretto from the latter is a major theme), Visconti finds an apt substitute for the original.Indeed, perhaps it's no coincidence that Visconti uses very, very little dialogue.
Dirk Bogarde is well suited as the repressed artist Aschenbach who visits Venice and finds ideal beauty in the young boy, Tadzio.
Much criticized for being slow, boring and too obvious in stating it's point (an old man discovers beauty in a young boy and is tragically destroyed, first mentally, then physically), we should appreciate this movie for what it is.
Director Visconti and Dirk Bogarde, the leading actor, admirably succeed in showing how the aging composer Von Aschenbach discovers his romantic interest in a young boy.
We see his inner struggle, mostly on the face of Bogarde, against the beautiful backdrop of Venice and accompanied by the most wonderful music, composed by Gustav Mahler.This movie is slow, there is no denying it.
The movie is a real artwork masterpiece, "Opera" of all and ever circulating essences which make it not only one whole and told life story, which virtuoso Luchino Visconti tells through excellent Dirk Bogarde, Bjorn Andersen, Silvana Magnano and every and each of other virtually less important but still equally essential actors and other team members, who all contributed their apparent part apparently well, but is the circle where end involves and meets the new beginning too.
Nevertheless, when I'm feeling artsy again, I'll probably give this film another whirl.I picked up "Death in Venice" on DVD after reading Thomas Mann's novella for a class.
There is minimal dialogue in the film and the music by Mahler enhances the beauty of the movie as does the lack of spoken words.In the early 1900's a sick and aged Professor visits a hotel in Venice.
Based on Thomas Mann's Original Book, Beauty, art and decadence coexist in a film that will lead you, once you watch carefully, to some of the most important subjective and aesthetical questions ever made in the XX century.
The most perfect opening sequence of any film ever made.As the smoke from the steamers' funnel hoves into view, the heartbreakingly beautiful sounds of Gustav Mahler's Adagietto from his Symphony No5 haunts our senses just as the beauty of Bjorn Andreson haunts von Ashenbach.Dirk Bogarde stars in the best film he ever made as a dying composer visiting Venice.
It is slow, it is profound and it could be boring, but if you have an ounce of poetry in your soul you will watch this movie and reach another plane of existence.It is that good.Thank you Visconti,Bogarde and Mahler for a feast of ravishing beauty..
Much to his credit, Visconti did set out to find a younger boy, so he was not making the ignoble concession to social correctness other directors have made under similar circumstances, and I would not mention it if the film was not otherwise so nearly perfect.As many appear still to be unaware of it, it may be interesting to mention that Death in Venice is partly a true story.
Maybe Visconti was attempting to distance himself from the character, to make his film appear less autobiographical and less scandalous.The object of beauty with which Bogarde's composer becomes obsessed is a young boy of 15 with delicate features and a long mane of wavy blonde hair.
Both Mann and Britten succeeded in using these tensions in their own very different ways to create great works of art.Visconti's film is a very fine achievement but is not true to the book in one important respect: Tadzio, at sixteen, is too old.
Art film lovers would probably rank this much higher on their scale of appreciation, but I found DEATH IN VENICE, while sumptuous to look at and listen to (the music of Gustav Mahler fills the soundtrack with his symphonic music), as beautiful and empty as a multi-colored seashell.
Death in Venice is a great adaptation from a wonderful book written by Thomas Mann;I liked so many scenes;the profound performance of the great Dirk Bogarde as Aschenbach and Luchino Visconti was one of the most talented directors from Italy.
'Death in Venice' is arguably Thomas Mann's masterwork, the tale of a man's obsession, part pure and partly paedophillic, with a beautiful young boy.
However, when applied to this movie, MORTE A VENEZIA based upon the novel by Thomas Mann, it's a slightly different story.The entire film is, at first view, so unique, so psychological and so much influenced by the various thoughts of an artist (both director and main character Gustav von Aschenbach) that it seems to be "unwatchable" for many viewers.
Since I don't know the back story and the movie has little in the way of plot or exposition, I'm left wondering about Aschenbach (Dirk Bogarde)'s obsession with young Tadzio.