Beach Scene -Death in Venice - Luchino Visconti 1971

Morte a Venezia - Death in Venice (1971)
Directed by Luchino Visconti
Main Cast: Dirk Bogarde, Romolo Valli, Marisa Berenson, Carole André, Björn Andrésen, Silvana Mangano, Franco Fabrizi, Leslie French
Based on a novel by Thomas Mann, Death in Venice stars Dirk Bogarde as a German composer who is terrified that he has lost all vestiges of humanity. While visiting Venice, Bogarde falls in love with a beautiful young boy (Bjorn Andresen). The relationship is ruined by Bogarde's obsession with the boy's youth and physical perfection; the composer realizes that the child represents an ideal that he can never match. The character played by Dirk Bogarde is evidently intended to be Gustav Mahler, whose haunting music is featured on the film's soundtrack.
Death in Venice (original Italian title: Morte a Venezia) is a 1971 Italian-French drama film directed in Panavision and Technicolor by Luchino Visconti and starring Dirk Bogarde and Björn Andrésen. It is based on the 1912 novella Death in Venice written by German author Thomas Mann.
In 2012, Death in Venice has ranked the 235th greatest film of all time in the Sight & Sound critics' poll. On September 1, 2018, the film was screened in the Venice Classics section at the 75th Venice International Film Festival. The film was released by the Criterion Collection featuring a remastered edition on Blu-Ray on February 19, 2019.[4]
On January 29, 2021, a documentary about Björn Andrésen, The Most Beautiful Boy in the World, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.
At the turn of the century, composer Gustav von Aschenbach travels to Venice for rest, due to serious health concerns. In Venice, he becomes obsessed with the stunning beauty of an adolescent Polish boy named Tadzio, who is staying with his family at the same Grand Hôtel des Bains on the Lido as Aschenbach.
While Aschenbach attempts to find peace and quiet, the rest of the city is gripped by a cholera epidemic. City authorities do not inform the holiday-makers of the problem, for fear that they will abandon Venice and leave; however, Aschenbach himself is dying from heart disease. Aschenbach suddenly decides to depart from Venice, but his trunk has left the train station without him. In a moment of impulse, he decides to stay longer, waiting until his trunk has been returned; in fact, he is happy to return to the Grand Hôtel des Bains. Aschenbach continues to observe Tadzio whenever possible, even following him and his family through the narrow streets of Venice. Aschenbach soon realizes that something is seriously wrong, as a disinfectant wash is being applied to public places within the city. Later, when Aschenbach questions the hotel manager about it, the manager downplays the epidemic as nothing of concern.
Later, rejuvenated by the continuing presence of Tadzio - though they never actually converse - he visits a barber who, in his words, "Returns to you merely what has been lost", dyeing his grey hair black, whitening his face and reddening his lips to try to make him look younger. As he leaves the barber's shop, the barber exclaims: "And now Sir is ready to fall in love as soon as he pleases". Once again, Aschenbach follows Tadzio and his family through the tiny streets of Venice, gazing at Tadzio from afar, the latter becoming more aware that he is being gazed upon. Later that evening, Aschenbach dreams in flashback, of when his last opera was received with jeers and boos from an angry crowd.
In the climactic scene, Aschenbach sees Tadzio being beaten up on the beach by an older boy. When released, Tadzio walks away from him alone towards the horizon. He suddenly turns back to look at Aschenbach, then turns away to face the sun, and stretches his arm out towards it. Aschenbach too, stretches his hand as if to reach Tadzio, and at that very moment-heightened by the crescendo in Mahler's Adagietto-he dies from a heart attack. A few people notice him collapsing on his chair and alert the hotel staff. They carry Aschenbach's body away.
Visconti, Sergio Garfagnoli, Andrésen
Directed by Luchino Visconti
Screenplay by Luchino Visconti
Nicola Badalucco
Based on Death in Venice
by Thomas Mann
Produced by Luchino Visconti
Starring Dirk Bogarde
Björn Andrésen
Cinematography Pasqualino De Santis
Edited by Ruggero Mastroianni
Music by Gustav Mahler
Ludwig van Beethoven
Modest Mussorgsky
Armando Gill
Color process Technicolor
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Release date
1 March 1971
Running time 130 minutes
Countries Italy
France
Languages English
French
Italian
Polish
Budget $2 million

[@rebecamunozsiguenza7734]

Excelente….único y maravilloso. Bjorn siempre!!❤

[@thefirstime]

What a great movie!

[@pacoli182]

me encanta esa escena❤❤💋💋

[@s.s.p.9680]

You may watch, you may not touch.

[@antyymmyyy]

Tadzio is flirtatious and provocative. In this scene he shows his age, that is, 15 years old. He's not a man, but he's not a child either. She wiggles her butt in front of Gustav who almost faints. Book and film are different...

[@user-rv4bg2jb7p]

Lolito.

[@s.s.p.9680]

"Beach scene", aka "best scene".

[@bred-ib6mj]

This scene is the essence of the film. Explain everything. I don't think Tadzio was making fun of Gustav, the reason is simple. A 15 year old noble boy with some education would never make fun of a man who could be his father, rich, titled (baron), famous as a musician. Gustav is an authoritative figure. At most, a boy of that age could have made fun of an ugly peer, with crooked teeth, plump, with glasses... or a homeless person, a disabled person, but certainly not a distinguished and authoritative person like Aschenbach. I think that in the film Visconti wanted to make it clear that the blond boy wanted to experiment something with the older man, perhaps also because the boy had understood that Gustav is rich and wealthy (the same old story in short...). The famous shot in which Gustav seems to be "on top of" Tadzio from behind and the fact that both were sexually "involved" in this scene (objective data visible to all, if you want to understand...) speaks for itself.

[@studentjohn35]

This is one of the scenes where the movie defers to the original novella: Mann's Tadzio is probably 11 years old. Bjorn acting this scene as a 15 year old is outrageously absurd.

[@MrMartinportnoy]

The boy Wladzio who inspired Mann was indeed 11, but in the novella Tadzio is said to be around 14 . When Visconti chose this boy (who was already 15) to play Tadzio, he actually admitted that he looked "a bit too big"

[@s.s.p.9680]

​@@MrMartinportnoyThere's also another 15 yo Polish candidate for Tadzio Adam von Henzel.