Death in Venice
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Movie Reviews of Death in Venice
Movie Review: Obsession in the Time of Cholera
Summary: 5 Stars
Based on Thomas Mann's famous novella, Luchino Visconti's DEATH IN VENICE is the account of a middle-aged man and his obsession with a teenage boy. Gustav Aschenbach, a German composer, (Dirk Bogarde) on holiday in Venice in 1911, sees the young Tadzio and his Polish family at the hotel where they are staying and becomes sexually obsessed with him. Visconti has the difficult task of keeping the viewer interested in this sometimes slow-moving film since there is very little dialogue here. (The man and boy never speak.) What Aschenbach is thinking must be shown by facial expressions and body language. Both director and actor, however, are superb in conveying what is going on inside Aschenbach's head.DEATH IN VENICE is a beauty to behold. The opening scenes of the city are lush and beautiful; however, as the film progresses and Aschenbach begins his frenetic attempts to find out why many of the visitors are leaving Venice-- the city fathers are afraid they will lose the tourist lira if they are aware of a cholera outbreak-- the scenery takes on a sinister, deathly quality as the city becomes deserted. Visconti leaves no stone unturned in his attention to detail to create the mood and time period of this movie. Gustav Mahler's music (Bogarde looks a little like the composer) adds the final touch on this nearly flawless production.
Visconti is a master director.
Movie Review: Bogarde and Visconti deliver a masterpiece
Summary: 5 Stars
I respectfully suggest that anyone who loves this classic film might find the following book invaluable - The Real Tadzio: Thomas Mann's Death In Venice And The Boy Who Inspired It, by Gilbert Adair - available on Amazon.com.
I start out by making this suggestion as the book review by top 20 Amazon Reviewer Grady Harp is very insightful in identifying the thematic clash of Apollonian and Dionysian energies as embodied by Aschenbach and Tadzio, respectively.
Visconti's Death In Venice, which was followed 2 years later by Britten's opera of the same name (which I am about to acquire through Amazon.com), contains one of Bogarde's finest nuanced performances, and with an inspired soundtrack that is heavy on the Mahler (the lush strings of the Adagietto from the 5th Symphony are to die for... in a manner of speaking) this film is a work of art by any definition.
The events in the film broadly back reference a trip to Venice that writer Thomas Mann took with his family, in which he met a young Polish boy, whose beauty inspired the novella and the character of Tadzio.
The symbolic undercurrents ultimately flow into a tragically logical conclusion as the dying Aschenbach watches Tadzio walk off into the sea, a metaphor for Consciousness and the return to the Womb of the Great Mother.
Movie Review: A rare gem, this is cinema as Art
Summary: 5 Stars
Thomas Mann's novella "Death in Venice" is rightly considered one of the greatest books of European literature and this screen adaptation by the Italian maestro is brilliant and also completely faithful to the book unlike most movies based on literature. Every scene in the novella is to be found in the movie and it is a film of stunning visual beauty; this is entirely deliberate as the short story itself is a jewel which deals with the twin subjects of Art and Beauty and the Artist's relationship between the two. The plot follows a famous German composer (this is the only departure from the book--in the novella he was a German writer but Mann's character was based on Mahler anyway so the departure is totally understandable) whose staunchly held views on dignity, self-denial and an austere self-restraint are challenged when he encounters his ideal archetype of Beauty whilst on a holiday in Venice: a pubescent 14 year old Polish boy of aristocratic lineage. Totally smitten the old composer becomes totally obsessed with his Ideal and this leads to tragic consequences. The movie is famous also for the brilliant acting of Bogarte as the composer Gustave von Aschenbach and for the score by Mahler. With minimal dialogue this is a movie to be savoured and certainly not one for the typical Hollywood crow! A rare gem.Movie Review: Visconti's most lyrical, beguiling film
Summary: 5 Stars
This is such a tragic, beautiful film. Langorous in its pacing, the film is told mainly through imagery, and evocative use of Mahler's 5th Symphony, 4th movement. It's almost like a tone poem, or a concerto itself, as it gives the viewer a true sense of sadness and death. Bogarde is superb as the dying composer, and the cinemtography is stunning. I would disagree that Bogarde's character is a homosexual who is lusting after the boy (some have said this just on the basis that Visconti was homosexual). Having read the novella this is based on, Bogarde's character sees in Tadzio the classical sense of beauty and truth, not sexual longings. He sees him as the perfect example of youth, but that doesn't necessarily mean he "wants" him. Some have called this film and the novella an advertisement for pedophilia, and that is grossly unfair and ridiculous. Thomas Mann is one of my favorite writers, and Visconti has made a film worthy of the original text. This is my favorite Visconti film, slightly ahead of The Leopard (the uncut version, of course).
Movie Review: Great 2.35:1 image!
Summary: 5 Stars
The transfer of Death in Venice is a glorious 2.35:1 which really shows the beauty of the camera work and sightings. You will rediscover this masterpiece. The first images of Venice are astounding and the travelling in the hotel loaded with guests is beautiful.The image is clear and very clean. Only the English track is available. I would suggest turning on the subtitles (at least once for a try) because you will often get the translation of what is said in Italian, French and Polish(?). Not that it is much important, but that's interesting. As for the extras, you get a nice picture gallery, a good, long theatrical trailer without the usual spoilers and a documentary, Visconti's Venice. The latter is only about 9 minutes long, but you see the sets, Visconti directing, comments by Bogarde and a narrator presents the film process. An old hotel was restored for the filming purposes! It is quite interesting, but much too condensed. For the price, this is an excellent DVD.