Customer Reviews

Death in Venice

5 star:		(55)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Luchino Visconti's film adaptation of Thomas Mann's novella is visually, if not philosophically, faithful to its source (Britten's opera offers a more faithful reading of the Apollonian/Dionysian struggles which consume the aging writer). It is certainly one of the most gorgeous films ever made.

In the Visconti version, the emphasis is more on the physical aspects of the story. Never has Venice looked more beautiful and alluring, more decadent and effete. If you've read the novella, it's like having the descriptions on its pages come to life. Dirk Bogarde gives an outstanding performance as Gustav von Aschenbach. Although he has very little dialogue, he conveys the bitterness, aroused passion and finally, pitiful yearning of Aschenbach through facial expressions alone. Bjorn Andresen, the actor who plays Tadzio, the beautiful young boy who is the object of Aschenbach's desire, was perfectly cast. He too plays the part with facial expressions and gestures. The Tadzio character is pivotal to the story, so any actor in this role must be worthy of inspiring passion and desire. Visconti, with his incredible eye for beauty, knew exactly what was he doing. And changing Ashenbach from a writer to a composer based on Gustav Mahler, and then using Mahler's music, especially the Adagietto from the 5th Symphony, was another brilliant stroke. Although I'd read the Mann story before the film, Mahler's music and Death in Venice will always be inextricably linked in my mind. As will the haunting images which appear throughout the film, especially that last one of Ashenbach dying on the beach as Tadzio walks slowly into the water.

This films begs for DVD presentation in widescreen format with its soundtrack digitally enhanced. It also deserves to be restored to original full length. It may be slow moving with little action, but its rewards are many.

When I saw "Death In Venice" I was haunted by it's images for weeks. To this day, I cannot think upon this film without again experiencing some of the original feelings that it inspired. This is not, without question, an easy film to watch. The dialogue is sparse and the music is basically limited to Mahler's gorgeous Adagietto from Symphony No. 5. Notwithstanding, never has the marriage of music and film been more vital or more atmospheric. Mahler's haunting music was seemingly composed for this film and the effect is chilling. Dirk Bogarde is perfection as the bitter, vitriolic Gustav Aschenbach, a man so consumed with what he considers ideal beauty that he welcomes his own destruction for a moment in it's company. The young Bjorn Andresen is, too, equally captivating as the object of Aschenbach's obsession. Even though his role is essentially a non-speaking one, what he achieves within the lmiits of the role is extraordinary. The beautiful and elegant Silvana Mangano is on screen too infrequently for my taste, but her contribution is nonetheless wonderful. At times I found myself enveloped by this film, as if though I were a guest of the grand hotel quietly seated on a wicker chair watching these events unfold before me. Venice has never been more tangible on film than it is here. Do yourself a favor and watch this masterpiece of a film. One warning, though; "Death in Venice" is a devastating film and it takes it's toll on the viewer. Watch it in the company of loved-ones and on a beautiful, sunny day.

I wasn't too hopeful when I screened this film for 15 students immediately after reading Mann's masterpiece. In fact, I considered going instead with Von Sternberg's/Emil Jannings' "The Blue Angel" as a comparable narrative and proven cinematic success. But Visconti crafts a hypnotic and compelling film while Bogarde turns in the performance of his life. The lush cinematography and rich Mahler score are no mere "window dressing" but the very heart of the narrative, making the Dionysian currents that lap the Venice shores as irresistible to the attentive viewer as to the character of Aschenbach himself. I've never felt quite the same about a screen character--at once a pitiful caricature, his make-up melting under the hot Venice sun, and a noble figure who chooses his destiny.

This isn't a film for everyone. But as the final Mahler note was being sounded, one spectator excitedly whispered to me, "They got it." That's good enough for me.

I first saw this film a few weeks ago when it was on TV and found it utterly brilliant! Its a thought provoking, visceral and moving tale of a composer (Bogarde) who has all but lost his ability to experience emotion and finds the beauty of a young boy disturbs him enough to re-waken his feelings. There can be no more than 30 conversations or exchanges of words in this tale of smouldering obsession and even less action or movement. Yet incredibly it keeps one riveted and fascinated all throughout its running time. Bogarde gives the performance of his life as his character and the plot develop partly through his increasing obsession of the boy and through the flashbacks of his life as a composer. Director, Visconti films in lavish beauty and style and sensibly intervenes as little as possible as the experience, (rather than plot) unfolds. Mahler's music fits the film perfectly and heightens the emotion throughout. Its a rare gem of a film, of which I have yet to see another like it, where virtually nothing happens, yet everything happens. Marvellous!

Luchino Visconti's 1971 film adaptation of Thomas Mann's novel "Death in Venice" is nothing short of a masterpiece in every sense of the word. The more I watch this film, the more I realize how perfect it is.

For those unfamiliar with Thomas Mann's 1911 novel of the same name, there are a few differences. No movie that I'm aware of follows its original book to a "T". But the changes that Italian director Visconti adds to the story are intriguing and beautiful. I don't mind his personal touches in the slightest. Indeed, the film wouldn't be nearly as good otherwise.

The intuition to make the Aschenbach character really be Jewish/Austrian famed composer Gustav Mahler and set the movie's soundtrack to that of Mahler's 3rd and 5th symphonies was brilliant. I can't say if Thomas Mann originally intended the Aschenbach character to truly be Mahler in the novel or not?

Having the main character be a tired, worn out Gustav Mahler is a brilliant masterstroke of pure genius. We're left with a film that condenses everything brilliant that is Europe. Using Mahler's own music creates a depth and haunting realism to the film as well.

The casting in this film is extraordinary! You could not have casted a better cast to play these characters anywhere. The young man who plays the beautiful Tadzio looks like a Norweignean version of a sculpted Apollo youth. His features are those of a god. His silouette against the backdrop of the sparkling sea pointing out over the waters is one the most erotically charged scenes I've ever seen in a movie. It's breathtaking really, and one almost forgets the possibly taboo homoerotic connotations such a scenario is from the standpoint of the aged Aschenbach.

I have seen many films shot in and around Venice, Italy ("the Italian Job" most recently), but none have come as close to this as personifying the city and showing it as beautifully. In my opinion, Visconti's "Death in Venice" is to Venice what Fellini's "La Dolce Vita" is to Rome.

Foreign film lovers should not miss this classic. Travelers who've been to Italy, or dream of visiting one day, also should not miss this beautiful film. I may not recommend the film to younger audiences who probably aren't ready to understand why a dying man would entertain fantasies of a physical passion for a teen boy. In such cases, I would say the film is probably unsuitable for viewers under the ages of 15 or so.

The DVD has a nice picture in 16x9 widescreen for widescreen televisions and is compressed lightly with low grain and nice blacks and contrast. The sound is stereo and in the English language, so subtitles aren't necessary. The film is also shot in glorious color in a vivid but controlled manner. When I first saw this film I was sorry that it wasn't filmed in black & white, but now that I think on it, this story works better in color and the colors of this film are gorgeous. Venice always photographs well, but I have rarely seen the old city look so sumptuous as it does here. Some grade-A, top-notch cinematography went into the making of this rich and luxurious movie.

I won't give away plot or character... you can get this info from other reviewers. I will tell you something else.

I've seen this film once, a year ago. I hated it then. (Maybe my hetero-ness got in the way and I momentarily forgot that beauty is in the eye of the beholder... ) But from time to time images from the film crop into my head. They leave... eventually they come back. They always come back.

How many works of art can say THAT?

This is a haunting film, a tragic one. You will be touched... although maybe not right away. Give it a chance and it will be like one of those dreams you had twenty years ago and every now and then an image from that dream will pop into your head.

I've been to Venice. The city is like no other. And this film, perhaps, also, ... like no other.

Visconti's film is significantly different from Mann's classic story. Aside from the obvious changes (Aschenbach being a composer instead of a writer, etc), there are many subtle touches that deepen the ambiguity of the character. For example: In the book, Aschenbach's wife is dead, and his daughter is grown up and married away. In the film, his daughter dies in childhood, and it is not clear whether his wife is alive or not when he visits Venice.

Another reviewer here called the film "ambient"; I would add the word "poised." The camera lingers on scenes for many minutes; observations occur in planes of depth. The acting is often extremely subtle. The young man who plays Tadzio looks as if he is sculpted of alabaster. Compositions, lighting, settings, costumes and makeup are simply exquisite. Imagine if this had been photographed in 65mm!

DEATH IN VENICE probably looks better here than it ever did in theaters. The DVD transfer is superb, based on what appears to be a spotless, pristine source. The wide Panavision aspect ratio is faithfully preserved, anamorphically enhanced for 16:9 TVs. Sadly, the original monaural soundtrack has not been remixed for stereo; but execept for some occasionally muffled dialog (which may be intentional), it still sounds very good.

The post-MTV generation will find this film tough going. Don't buy this if you're hoping to see police gondolas flip over and explode. :)

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.

I saw this movie in a theater when it was released. One could hear laughter and boos from the audience. They thought the movie was boring as it had no plot and the main character was pathetic in his pursuit of a 12-year-old boy. Obviously, they could not see beyond the superficial. Actually, it is a very deep and moving metaphor about an artist (director Visconti himself?) who has been looking for beauty in an ugly world (note the plague all around him) all his life. He finally finds beauty (the boy) just before his death and can die satisfied. There is a hint in the last scene that the whole movie is an autobiographical metaphor: a lone movie camera on a tripod stands near the dying man on the beach.

I have recently re-visited Visconti's Venice after an absence of too many years and I am reminded again of what an impressive - not to mention brave - piece of cinema this was for its time, and continues to be.

Adapting this novella to film was never going to be easy, yet Visconti did a superb job, so, too, his actors. There are some changes from the book, with the first sixteen or so pages omitted, and I also found the film Tadzio to be more flirty than his novel counterpart, but these changes do not jar within the film.

What I found truly frustrating was that the video I have is not in wide-screen format and I did feel I was missing something happening out of shot - and I hate to miss anything in this wonderful movie.

This is not a movie for those with the attention span of a house-brick, but if you're in the market for thought-provoking and have a love for all things beautiful, this is a must-see. While the film runs for just over two-hours, it's not the sort of 2hr movie that has you checking your watch after the first hour.

Should the distributors see fit to release a wide-screen version on video - yes please, I'll have a copy of that, too.