Monday, September 14, 2020

The Stories about Music Films: 24. Death in Venice (1971)

Title: Death in Venice
Genre: Drama
Country: Italy, France
Language: English, French, Italian, Polish
Running time: 130 minutes
Release date: March 1, 1971

Staff

Director: Luchino Visconti
Producer: Luchino Visconti, Robert Gordon Edwards, Mario Gallo
Written by: Luchino Visconti, Nicola Badalucco
Music: Gustav Mahler
Cinematography: Pasqualino De Santis
Edited by: Ruggero Mastroianni

Cast

Dirk Bogarde as Gustav von Aschenbach
Mark Burns as Alfred
Marisa Berenson as Frau von Aschenbach
Björn Andrésen as Tadzio
Romolo Valli as hotel manager
Nora Ricci as governess
Carole André as Esmeralda

Summary




“Death in Venice” is a 1971 Italian-French drama film directed by Luchino Visconti and starring Dirk Bogarde. The film is based on the German author Thomas Mann's novel "Death in Venice," first published in 1912.

Plot



Composer Gustav von Aschenbach travels to Venice for health reasons. There he becomes obsessed with the stunning beauty of a Polish boy named Tadzio, who is staying with his family at the same hotel as Aschenbach in Lido.

Aschenbach tries to find peace and quiet, but the rest of the city is gripped by a cholera epidemic, and the city authorities do not announce it because of fears that vacationers will leave there. When Aschenbach and other guests go on a day trip into the city center, they begin to realize that something is seriously wrong. Aschenbach decides to leave, but eventually decides to stay there. However, he is dying of heart disease.

Although they never actually converse, Aschenbach regained vitality by Tadzio, and he continues to stare at Tadzio from a distance, and Tadzio awares that he is being gazed by Aschenbach.

In the climax scene, Tadzio suddenly turns to see Aschenbach as he moves away towards the horizon, then turns back to the sun, and stretches his arm out towards it. Aschenbach also stretches his hand as if to reach Tadzio, and he dies of a heart attack as Mahler's Adagietto flows as background music.


Movie Review


The best possible film of Mann's novella”
A visionary masterpiece”
A haunting piece of cinema”
A monument”
Unforgettable romantic drama”
One of the greatest films”

Interesting stories about the film


1. Wladyslaw Moes, who is known to have inspired the character Tadzio in the Thomas Mann’s novel "Death in Venice," which was the basis of this film, was only 10 years old in May 1911.
2. In the Thomas Mann's novel, Gustav von Aschenbach is an author, not a composer.
3. Burt Lancaster eagerly sought the role of Gustav von Aschenbach.
4. Björn Andrésen, who played the role of Tadzio, was dubbed because the Swedish actor played a Polish character.
5. Although Gustav Mahler may have inspired the character of Gustav von Aschenbach, many of the plots of the novel were inspired by Thomas Mann's own experience. According to Mann's widow, Katia Mann, when the two were on vacation in Venice in 1911, Mann found a beautiful young boy staying at their hotel.

Thank you.


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