Rent Death in Venice (1971)
3.5 of 5 from 161 ratings
2h 5min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
Based on the classic novella by Thomas Mann, this late-career masterpiece from Luchino Visconti is a meditation on the nature of art, the allure of beauty, and the inescapability of death. A fastidious composer reeling from a disastrous concert, Gustav von Aschenbach (Dirk Bogarde, in an exquisitely nuanced performance) travels to Venice to recover. There, he is struck by a vision of pure beauty in the form of a young boy named Tadzio (Bjorn Andrcscn), his infatuation developing into an obsession even as rumors of a plague spread through the city. Setting Mann's story of queer desire and bodily decay against the sublime music of Gustav Mahler, 'Death in Venice' is one of cinemas most exalted literary adaptations, as sensually rich as it is allegorically resonant. - Actors:
- Dirk Bogarde, Romolo Valli, Mark Burns, Nora Ricci, Marisa Berenson, Carole André, Björn Andrésen, Silvana Mangano, Leslie French, Franco Fabrizi, Antonio Appicella, Sergio Garfagnoli, Ciro Cristofoletti, Luigi Battaglia, Dominique Darel, Masha Predit, Eva Axén, Marcello Bonini Olas, Bruno Boschetti, Nicoletta Elmi
- Directors:
- Luchino Visconti
- Producers:
- Luchino Visconti
- Writers:
- Thomas Mann, Luchino Visconti
- Others:
- Ferdinando Scarfiotti, Piero Tosi, Pasquale De Santis, Vittorio Trentino, Giuseppe Muratori
- Aka:
- Morte a Venezia
- Studio:
- Warner
- Genres:
- Classics, Drama, Lesbian & Gay
- Collections:
- A Brief History of Classical Music on Film - Musicians, A World of Difference: A History of Gay Cinema, Drama Films & TV, A Brief History of Film..., The Instant Expert's Guide, The Instant Expert's Guide to Luchino Visconti, Top 10 Films Set in Venice, Top 10 Guest Houses On Film, Top Films, What We Were Watching in 1971
- Countries:
- Italy
- Awards:
1972 BAFTA Best Production Design
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 18/03/2019
- Run Time:
- 131 minutes
- Languages:
- English LPCM Mono, Italian LPCM Mono
- Subtitles:
- English Hard of Hearing
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Widescreen 2.35:1
- Colour:
- Colour
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- B
- Bonus:
- Luchino Visconti: Life as in a Novel, a 2008 documentary about the director, featuring Visconti; actors Burt Lancaster, Silvana Mangano, and Marcello Mastroianni; filmmakers Francesco Rosi and Franco Zeffirelli; and others
- Alla ricerca di Tadzio, a 1970 short film by Visconti about his efforts to cast the role of Tadzio
- New program featuring literature and cinema scholar Stefano Albertini
- Interview from 2006 with costume designer Piero Tosi
- Excerpt from a 1990 program about the music in Visconti's films, featuring Bogarde and actor Marisa Berenson
- Interview with Visconti from 1971
- Visconti's Venice, a short 1970 behind-the-scenes documentary featuring Visconti and Bogarde Trailer
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Reviews (1) of Death in Venice
Beauty Without Breath - Death in Venice review by griggs
From the first notes of Mahler’s Adagietto, the mood is fixed: slow pans of Venice, mournful strings, and Dirk Bogarde staring into the middle distance. It’s ravishing—every shot arraged with painterly care—but so languid you could step out for a cup of tea and return to find little has changed.
Visconti takes Thomas Mann’s briednovella and stretches it into a solomn dirge. Glances become whole scenes, nmood takes the place of story. Venice wilts under cholera, Bogarde’s Aschenback collapses under obsession, and the film itslef drifts toward stasis. The spectacle impresses, but beuty alone can’t carry momentum.
For admirers, it’s high art: a meditation on mortality, carried by Mahler’s most elegiac movement. For the rest of us, i it shows how atmosphere turns into inertia. Death in Venice mourns with grace, but in doing so leaves life behind.
1 out of 1 members found this review helpful.