Death in Venice

 Year:  1971

Director: Luchino Visconti

Screenplay:  Luchino Visconti and Nicola Badalucco, based on the novella Death in Venice by Thomas Mann

Starring:  Dirk Bogarde, Björn Andrésen, Mark Burns, Romolo Valli, Nora Ricci, Marisa Berenson, Carole André, Silvana Mangano

Running Time:  130 minutes

Genre:  Drama

At the dawn of the 20th Century, ailing composer Gustav von Aschendbach (Bogarde), finding his physical and mental health suffering after a disastrous concert, travels to Venice for a quiet holiday to recuperate.  In a palatial hotel on the Lido, Aschenbach notices teenager Tadzio (Andrésen) and becomes increasingly obsessed with him.  Meanwhile, Aschenbach becomes aware of rumours of an outbreak of cholera sweeping Venice.

Based on a 1912 novella by German writer Thomas Mann, this is possibly one of the best known films of celebrated Italian filmmaker Luchino Visconti.  British actor Dirk Bogarde, who previously worked with Visconti on The Damned (1969), plays fastidious German composer Gustav von Aschenbach, who is obsessed with the pursuit of ideal beauty.  Failing to find it in his music, he believes he has found it in the adolescent Tadzio.  The film is seen more or less through Aschenbach's eyes, and Tadzio is seen as an object of desire, and it is unclear as to whether Aschenbach's fixation on Tadzio is carnal or if he sees Tadzio as having the perfect beauty of a statue or painting.  The two never speak, Aschenbach stays watching Tadzio in hotel dining rooms, on the beach just outside the hotel, and takes to following Tadzio and his family through the winding streets of Venice.   The two exchange glances, but that is it.  However Aschenbach does at one point fantasise about warning Tadzio's mother, played by Silvana Mangano, of the outbreak in Venice.  The film's narrative in Venice is broken by flashback to Aschenbach's past and dreams.  Dirk Bogarde gives a great performance as Aschenbach, snapping at hotel staff and guards in a train station, discussing aesthetics with a friend, he becomes ultimately a pathetic and rather tragic figure, with his face painted white, lips painted red and hair dyed black to make himself look younger.  Bogarde manages to convey a lot without dialogue, depicting his yearning through longing looks.  The film looks beautiful with every frame carefully composed and features some beautiful images, complemented by a classical score, famously featuring Gustav Mahler's Third and Fifth Symphonies.  This is a slow, languid film, which is nevertheless surprisingly moving.  The story's premise of an adult's infatuation with an adolescent is, to put it mildly, uncomfortable and problematic, although it is a powerful work of art.  Aschenbach is a man who knows he is dying, who knows that his time has passed, alone and forgotten in the stately grandeur of a bygone age, in a place where even the air is making him feel increasingly sick, he sees in Tadzio the youth, life and beauty that he craves but that he can never have.

Björn Andrésen, who plays Tadzio, and who was 16 at the time of the film's release, has since criticised the film and the unwelcome and often predatory attention that he received during it's production and following it's release.  The Most Beautiful Boy in the World, a documentary about Andrésen, was released in 2019.

Dirk Bogarde in Death in Venice

Barry Lyndon

Year of Release:  1975
Director:  Stanley Kubrick
Screenplay:  Stanley Kubrick, based on the novel The Luck of Barry Lyndon by William Makepeace Thackeray
Starring:  Ryan O'Neal, Marisa Berenson, Patrick Magee, Hardy Krüger, Diana Koerner, Gay Hamilton
Running Time:  187 minutes
Genre:  Period drama

In 18th Century Ireland, headstrong Redmond Barry (O'Neal), believing that he has killed an English officer in a duel, leaves his home to seek his fortune.  He embarks on many adventures as a soldier, spy, professional gambler, con-man in his quest to become one of the gentry.

This is possibly Stanley Kubrick's most underrated film, coming between the controversial A Clockwork Orange (1971) and the horror classic The Shining (1980).  However, this ravishingly beautiful period drama is one of Kubrick's finest works, and in my opinion it is a masterpiece.  It's based on the 1844 novel The Luck of Barry Lyndon by William Makepeace Thackeray, who is possibly best known for writing Vanity Fair (1848).  Kubrick turned to the book when his planned film about the life of Napoleon Bonaparte fell apart, and was able to incorporate that he had already done about the 1800s into this film.  It's a film of two parts, divided by chapter headings, the first part dealing with Barry's scheming and adventures to achieve wealth and status, and the much darker second part is more of a domestic drama as everything falls apart.  While this stately film may not be as obviously groundbreaking as other Kubrick films, it is still innovative is several respects, perhaps most notably the technique filmmakers devised to allow scenes to be lit solely by candlelight.   Almost every scene in the film is like a painting you feel you could hang on your wall.  Ryan O'Neal plays Barry from a gauche, reckless young man, to cynical antihero, and ultimately tragic figure, with a kind of icy charisma, Marisa Berenson plays the unlucky Lady Lyndon  as a fragile, tragic character, hiding depths behind her blank, mask-like face.  Barry's stepson Lord Bullingdon is played by Leon Vitali, who would later become Kubrick's assistant, and if you have any interest at all in Kubrick or film-making, the documentary about Vitali, Filmworker (2017), is a must-see.  Michael Hordern's narration provides a witty, ironic commentary on the events on screen, a departure from the novel which is narrated by Barry himself.  The soundtrack uses classical music from Bach, Handel, Vivaldi and Schubert among others, and Irish folk music

"It was in the reign of George III that these personages lived and quarreled.  Good or bad, beautiful or ugly, rich or poor, they are all equal now."

           

Ill met by candlelight in Barry Lyndon