Morte a Venezia (1971)

Director:

Luchino Visconti

Writers:

Thomas Mann (novel)
Luchino Visconti (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

17 June 1971 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

In this adaptation of the Thomas Mann novel, avant-garde composer Gustave Aschenbach (loosely based...

Plot Keywords:

Train Station | Very Little Dialogue | Prostitute | Pedophilia | Beautician

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 16 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Dirk Bogarde	...	Gustav von Aschenbach
Romolo Valli	...	Hotel manager
Mark Burns	...	Alfred
Nora Ricci	...	Governess
Marisa Berenson	...	Frau von Aschenbach
Carole André	...	Esmeralda (as Carole Andre)
Björn Andrésen	...	Tadzio (as Björn Andresen)
Silvana Mangano	...	Tadzio's mother
Leslie French	...	Travel Agent
Franco Fabrizi	...	Barber
Antonio Appicella	...	Vagrant
Sergio Garfagnoli	...	Jaschu, Polish youth
Ciro Cristofoletti	...	Hotel clerk
Luigi Battaglia	...	Scapegrace
Dominique Darel	...	English tourist

Also Known As:

Death in Venice (Canada: English title) (UK) (USA)
Mort à Venise (France)

Runtime:

130 min

Country:

Italy | France

Language:

English | Italian | Polish | French

Colour:

Colour (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

France:Unrated | Spain:13 | West Germany:12 (f) | Australia:M | Finland:S | Singapore:PG | Sweden:11 | UK:12A (re-rating) (2002) | UK:12 (video re-rating) (2004) | UK:15 (video rating) (1988) | UK:AA (original rating) | USA:GP (original rating) | USA:PG | Ireland:15

Filming Locations:

Banca Commerciale Italiana, St. Mark's Square, Venice, Veneto, Italy

Company:

Alfa Cinematografica

Trivia:

'Bjorn Andresen' is dubbed, since the Swedish actor was playing a Polish character.

Goofs:

Continuity: As Aschenbach watches the departing Tadzio just after he twirls on the canopy posts, two young boys are walking hand in hand toward the camera. In the next shot, only one of the boys is seen walking in front of Aschenbach.

Quotes:

Alfred: In all the world, there is no impurity so impure as old age.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Piero Tosi costumier ou Le goût de la perfection (2004) (V)

Soundtrack:

Sehr Langsam Misterioso From Symphony No.3

ignores important aspects of the novella

I'm not sure where to start with this. In short, it was a disappointing movie. Having taught the novella, I was aware that it would be a hard story to turn into a movie. The movie has a couple of interesting lines (mainly between Alfred and Aschenbach) but it doesn't represent the debate on art that basically shapes the novella.

For one, I was expecting an older Aschenbach and a younger Tadzio. In the book, Tadzio is fourteen, but he is described as pure, ideal, innocent, whereas in the movie he reeks of sexuality and is a tease. He is an accomplice to Aschenbach, he always looks back at him, almost provokingly. In the book, it is Aschenbach who steals glances at the boy. As for Aschenbach, I imagined something closer to the professor-turned-clown in The Blue Angel (based on a story by Thomas Mann's brother Heinrich) than this forty-year old with hardly any gray hair. In all fairness, I do think that Dirk Bogarde did a good job, but either someone else should have done that, or he should have made to look older at the beginning.

I know that the discovery of homosexuality is important to the story, but the movie minimizes the talk about art and the duality between the Apollonian and Dyonisian inspirations and focuses instead on Aschenbach's obsession of Tadzio and does not justify it. I liked the fact that Mahler's music was used, because ultimately he did inspire Mann to write his story. I'm not sure turning Aschenbach into a musician was a particularly good move. Or the creation of Alfred who I don't remember in the book.

And one thing that really got to me was the sound and how it did not match the actors' lips. I was wondering if it was dubbed because I expected it to be in Italian. But then I remembered that each Italian movie I have watched has this problem. It just bothers me because these directors (Fellini is the other person I'm thinking of) are supposed to epitomize perfection in Italian cinema, and here are their characters laughing without sound, then you hear a noise that doesn't correspond to their faces (I'm thinking of the scenes when Aschenbach almost collapses and starts laughing. This scene could/should have been the strongest, but it was annoying instead).