Morte a Venezia
Directed by:
Luchino ViscontiCinematography:
Pasqualino De SantisCast:
Dirk Bogarde, Romolo Valli, Mark Burns, Nora Ricci, Marisa Berenson, Carole André, Björn Andrésen, Silvana Mangano, Franco Fabrizi, Marco Tulli, Nicoletta Elmi (more)VOD (2)
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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 (Björn Andrésen), 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 cinema’s most exalted literary adaptations, as sensually rich as it is allegorically resonant. (Criterion)
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Reviews (3)
Seen on a wide screen in the classy premises of Slovácké divadlo and I have to say that it was my greatest experience at SFS so far!! A visual and auditory feast with Visconti's incredible magic with images and the divine music of Gustav Mahler. Even the story, however simple, can captivate with its poignancy on the theme of forbidden love and the decay of society and the human spirit. However, it is how and where you see the work that is essential to the overall impression. This really belongs in the cinema.
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In the context of the German Visconti trilogy, this is an interesting piece. The Damned was a mannerist film of low artistic quality, but this one had quite a bit of energy mainly thanks to Mann's book. The climax amounts to the very conciliatory forgiveness of a nation defined by an all-powerful elite.
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Musical beauty abused for narrative emptiness and a dragging camera capturing Venice, Bogarde, and Andrésen. Visconti does exactly what I condemn in acclaimed directing giants. He films for himself and only sends the viewer his smug smile. I hate the impersonal form at the expense of the story, and therefore, I would be a hypocrite if I judged it better.
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