Death in Venice

I was 18 when i first saw this movie in an arthouse cinema in Amsterdam.I still remember how overwhelmed by its sheer beauty.And when i reviewed it recently brought out the same feeling

The movie by the great Visconti is a adaption from the Thomas Mann novella 'Tod in Venedig'.It s main theme is the foolish adoration of beauty , chasing our unreachable dreams and fantasies of love.Beauty here personified by the young boy Tadzio(Bjorn Andersen,who the gay Visconti considered the most beautifull boy in the world)and the obsessed professore (Dirk Bogarde in his best perfomance ever).

Plato in his 'Form of Beauty'already mentioned the corruption that lies in captivating beauty and as a contrast described Death being the opposite of beauty.In the final scene we see the professor ,already delirious by the high fever and dying from the Cholera ,in his last moments while you got in background the magnificent Adagietto from Mahlers 5th symphony.Beauty and Death finally come together in what is in my opinion one of the greatest movie endings ever

And this is the most beautifull boy 33 years later at age 50......