Description
Based on the classic novella by Thomas Mann, this late-career masterpiece from Luchino Visconti is a meditation on the nature of art, the allure of beauty, and the inescapability of death. A fastidious composer reeling from a disastrous concert, Gustav von Aschenbach (Dirk Bogarde, in an exquisitely nuanced performance) travels to Venice to recover. There, he is struck by a vision of pure beauty in the form of a young boy named Tadzio (Björn Andrésen), his infatuation developing into an obsession even as rumors of a plague spread through the city. Setting Mann’s story of queer desire and bodily decay against the sublime music of Gustav Mahler, <i “=””>Death in Venice is one of cinema’s most exalted literary adaptations, as sensually rich as it is allegorically resonant.
SPECIAL FEATURES
- New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
- Luchino Visconti: Life as in a Novel, a 2008 documentary about the director, featuring Visconti; actors Burt Lancaster, Silvana Mangano, and Marcello Mastroianni; filmmakers Francesco Rosi and Franco Zeffirelli; and others
- Alla ricerca di Tadzio, a 1970 short film by Visconti about his efforts to cast the role of Tadzio
- New program featuring literature and cinema scholar Stefano Albertini
- Interview from 2006 with costume designer Piero Tosi
- Excerpt from a 1990 program about the music in Visconti’s films, featuring Bogarde and actor Marisa Berenson
- Interview with Visconti from 1971
- Visconti’s Venice, a short 1970 behind-the-scenes documentary featuring Visconti and Bogarde
- Trailer
- PLUS: An essay by critic Dennis Lim
New cover by Cliff Wright
Criterion Collection:
Since 1984, the Criterion Collection has been dedicated to publishing important classic and contemporary films from around the world in editions that offer the highest technical quality and award-winning, original supplements. No matter the medium—from laserdisc to DVD and Blu-ray to streaming—Criterion has maintained its pioneering commitment to presenting each film as its maker would want it seen, in state-of-the-art restorations with special features designed to encourage repeated watching and deepen the viewer’s appreciation of the art of film.
