- Abroad on a rest holiday, composer Gustav Aschenbach (Dick Bogarde) is to all the world reserved and civilized. But when he glimpses someone who inspires him to give way to a secret passion, it foreshadows his doom.Director Luchino Visconti (Rocco and His Brothers, The Damned) transforms Thomas Mann’sic novel into “a masterwork of power and beauty” (William Wolf, Cue). Like Aschenbach, Visconti is
Abroad on a rest holiday, composer Gustav Aschenbach (Dick Bogarde) is to all the world reserved and civilized. But when he glimpses someone who inspires him to give way to a secret passion, it foreshadows his doom. Director Luchino Visconti (Rocco and His Brothers, The Damned) transforms Thomas Mann’s classic novel into “a masterwork of power and beauty” (William Wolf, Cue). Like Aschenbach, Visconti is an artist obsessed: his movies are awash in mood, period detail and seething emotions beneath placid surfaces. Earning its maker a Cannes Film Festival Special 25th Anniversary Prize, Death in Venice – with a soundtrack feast of Gustav Mahler music and a haunting Bogarde performance-is Visconti at his best.Luchino Visconti’s adaptation of the Thomas Mann novel is the very definition of sumptuous: the costumes and sets, the special geography of Venice, and the breathtaking cinematography combine to form a heady experience. At the center of this gorgeousness is Aschenbach (Dirk Bogarde in a meticulous performance), a controlled intellectual who unexpectedly finds himself obsessed by the vision of a 14-year-old boy while on a convalescent vacation in 1911. Visconti has turned Aschenbach into a composer, which accounts for the lush excerpts from Mahler on the soundtrack (Bogarde is meant to look like Mahler, too). Even if it tends to hit the nail on the head a little too forcefully, and even if Visconti can test one’s patience with lingering looks at crowds at the beach and hotel dining rooms, Death in Venice creates a lushness rare in movies. For some viewers, that will be enough. –Robert Horton
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April 18, 2008
#1
this is the worst movie I have ever seen. it was painful to watch the whole thing. the only reason I did end up watching it was I was a captive audience in a film class. this film has no entertainment value at all. I don’t know what is wrong with the rest of these people here that like this. this film is the biggest piece of trash I have ever seen.
April 18, 2008
#2
I saw all these glorious FIVE STAR reviews below… one right after the other… and so I rented the film. All I can say is… did I rent the right movie? Sometimes they have more than one movie with the same title.
I thought the film was supposed to be about the intoxication of beauty but Mr. Bogarde spends two hours looking at some skinny pasty-faced kid who seems to have the personality of an amoeba. The best scene was at the train station when Bogarde was leaving this wretched waste of time… but they lost his luggage and he didn’t leave and then he sat down and then he smiled.
I know what he was smiling about. That he was getting paid lots of money to be in such a bad film and he could go out and buy lots of things.
Mr. Bogarde is married to Marisa Berenson and Miss Berenson is just plain bad luck: Ryan O’Neal was married to her in Barry Lyndon and got his leg blown off. Dirk should have got out of town when he could.
At the end, Visconti rips off that whole X-FILES bit when Bogarde is looking out into the ocean at the pasty-faced amoeba kid in the glare of the sun and the oozing-black-alien stuff starts leaking from Mr. Dirk’s head. I guess the amoeba kid was David Bowie’s little alien brother from THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH and he ran into Krycek and got a hold of that oozing-black-stuff because he didn’t like Mr. Dirk staring at him all the time.
All I know is Jean Luc Godard would have had Anna Karina blow the kid away in the first scene and then plan a hotel robbery or something.
April 18, 2008
#3
Luchino Visconti is one of my favorite directors of all time! I usually love to watch his movies. Films like “The Innocent”, “Ludwig”, “Senso” and “Conversation Piece” I think they are all great movies. Each one of them is very enjoyable to watch. So I want everyone to keep this in mind. It’s not that I hate “Death In Venice”, it does have it’s good points. There are many things that standout about this movie, that I will never forget, and I mean that in the best way possible. Visconti’s directing is as usual wonderful. I think from everything I’ve seen by him, this might be his best movie as a director. We can picture him directing this movie. The acting by Dirk Bogarde is very good too. I also enjoyed him in Visconti’s “The Damned”. The locations are wonderful. There are some real beautiful scenes here. I think the music by Mahler is very pleasant to listen to. I especially love the opening credits. I think it’s one of the best I’ve ever seen ( no joke!). But even though I can say these positive things about the movie, it does have it’s own faults as well. I’ve never read the novel from which this is based on, nor do I intend to ever read it. But, the character played by Bogarde remained, to me at least, such a mystery. There were times I didn’t understand his character. And, I couldn’t quite get his fascination with the young boy. Was this suppose to be a homosexual love story? He clearly found the boy appealing. That’s in the tagline for the movie. ” A man obsessed by ideal beauty”. The boy represents “ideal beauty”, but why? I know that may seem like a dumb question to some, but, I never quite got it. Why did HE have to represent it? And if you read the back of the cover it states “he abandons himself to a secret passion.” Besides all of this, I didn’t feel we got to know Bogarde’s character very well. It’s been some time since I watched the movie, but I don’t remember hearing him ever talk about his family. I do remember a scene where he kisses a picture either of his wife or child. I didn’t warm up to the character enough where I felt I went along with him. I never opened up to him. Now, was it like this in the book as well, or did this happen in the screenplay? I don’t know. I have some respect for this movie, because of my admiration for Visconti, but this is a movie I usually never watch. ** 12 out of *****
April 18, 2008
#4
“Death in Venice” is a film so constipated by its excessive self-importance that waching it is like trying to pass a ton of coal. In other words, it is an abysmal failure. Like some sick Frankensteinian experiment, three great artists- Mann, Visconti, and Mahler- are fused together into an impenetrable blob of meaningless pretention. The result? A cinematic disaster much more disheartening than the average bomb for the mere fact of its potential, for this is truly an unwatchable sum of some very intriguing parts. I am by no means attacking the slow nature of this film. I am, in fact, an avid fan of the long take (I love Herzog films). But in “Death in Venice”, the excruciating pace did more to alienate me as an audience member than enhance the story’s drama. Never have I been so acutely aware of my need to urniate as when watching the last half of this film, thinking it over ever five minutes only to be forced back into viewing Hell as this lifeless corpse died its slow, slow death. In the end, the best thing I can say about “Death in Venice” is that the amount of tortured squirming it had me doing in my seat probably increased my “calories-burnt-while-sitting” rate.
April 18, 2008
#5
While this was a very slow paced movie, I found the scenery very beautiful and worth viewing. Both the city and water scenes, as well as young Bjorn. While it takes forever to get anywhere with the slow plot, the gradual interest and interaction between man and boy are interesting. (I think it would have been nice to see at least one conversation between the two.) I was confused by the ending, and one other time when he touches Tadzio’s hair. Was that real or a day dream thing. Truly, a unique movie and the boy was a very nice looking kid. Whether you are “intersted” in boys or not, you can’t deny his beauty. Also, if you just want to “see Venice” this slow paced film is worth viewing. Thank goodness for fast-forward. All in all, the film is worth seeing.