Death in Venice
Tags: romantic

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.

Review: A great film version of Britten's opera. Death in Venice has never admittedly been one of my favourite Britten operas, but as with all Britten if you get used to his style it is well worth hearing. This Death in Venice film version is just great. I'd also seen the 1990 production with Robert Tear and Alan Opie, and I was actually expecting to prefer that one for the spontaneity you always get from a live-performance. As a matter of fact, while I did like that production, I prefer this. The costumes and sets here are much more imaginative, evoking Venice perfectly and almost reminiscent of the famous 1971 Visconti Death in Venice. I also prefer the conducting here, the nuances that are given here make the music even more seductive than it already is. The orchestral playing is really marvellous and the direction draws you right into the story, apart from a couple of scenes where it did seem a little too aimless. The camera work is exceptional, with the clever cutting, superimposition and dream-like sequences it perfectly manages to reflect the characters' inner thoughts and feelings. The performances are just great on the whole, apart from the Tadzio who is awful. Robert Gard doesn't quite have Peter Pears' charisma(originally scheduled for the role before his stroke) but as Aschenbach he sings wonderfully, has precise diction and looks good. I have to say though I do prefer Robert Tear also in the role. Deanne Bergsma's Polish Mother is truly excellent, and James Bowman is a commanding and beautifully sung Apollon. But the show belongs to John Shirley-Quirk, he is multiple roles and with his confident and appealing baritone voice and authoritative dramatic ability he is simply brilliant, especially as the Traveller. In conclusion, apart from Tadzio and a couple of aimless scenes, this film version is great especially for Shirley Quirk, the visuals, camera work and conducting. 9/10 Bethany Cox. Beauty in the eye of the beholder. I recently saw the film of English National Opera's 2013 production of Death in Venice. It was interesting to compare it with this 1981 film, directed by Tony Palmer. The ENO production makes effective use of back-projections of Venetian locations whereas Palmer uses film of actual Venetian locations spliced together with scenes shot in a studio. It looks good, although the effect was somewhat marred in the fuzzy print that I saw.This is very much a film, rather than a filmed opera. As the protagonist, Aschenbach, reflects upon his situation Palmer illustrates his thoughts. Also, controversially, he uses voice-over so that Aschenbach is seen silently musing while he sings on the soundtrack. Normally I would hate this but it seems to work and it helps in understanding the psychologically complex story to be able to see what Aschenback is thinking about. I could hear every word that tenor Robert Gard sang, something that could not be said for the ENO production where I had to listen with a synopsis in my hand. Only occasionally did I get the impression that I was watching a film with an operatic backing track.John Shirley-Quirk successfully manages the seven cameo roles of various irritating people that Aschenbach comes into contact with. The object of Aschenbach's affection, the boy Tadzeo, played by Vincent Redman, is of course a non-singing, non-speaking role. To be honest, I found him less than beautiful beside his two beautiful sisters. Aschenbach, of course, does find him beautiful and describes his sisters as plain. I did enjoy the scene where the slender youth descends into a Turkish bath watched by fat naked Italians, a scene that is not in the opera but one that is used by Palmer to open out the action.I like Britten's score with its sensitive orchestration and Balinese tinkling. Mifanwy Piper does her usual expert job on the libretto. Ultimately though this not one of my favourite Britten operas because I think the source material, the novella by Thomas Mann is too thin and, frankly, rather distasteful. I can understand why Britten empathised with this story of a dirty old man following an adolescent boy around Venice but it is a theme that probably does not have universal appeal.