Death in Venice | Rotten Tomatoes (original) (raw)
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Critics Consensus
Luchino Visconti's Death in Venice is one of his emptier meditations on beauty, but fans of the director will find his knack for sumptuous visuals remains intact.
Stefan Kanfer TIME Magazine Visconti takes the veneer and calls it furniture. With infinite tedium, he pores over every facet of Tadzio's Botticelli visage. Feb 8, 2018 Full Review Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times Visconti's mastery of visual style almost succeeds in creating the very ideas and feelings that his heavy-handed narrative entirely misses. Rated: 2.5/4 Oct 23, 2004 Full Review Vincent Canby New York Times Instead of bringing the story to life, Visconti has, I'm afraid, embalmed it. Rated: 2/5 May 20, 2003 Full Review Wael Khairy The Cinephile Fix “Death in Venice” is a film about humanity’s slow transcendence into nothingness and everything. It exists in the space between life and death, between youth and old age, between ignorance and wisdom. Apr 20, 2023 Full Review Frank J. Avella Edge Media Network Visconti finds beauty not only in Andrésen and the exquisite city of love, but also in the storytelling. Rated: A- Jul 7, 2022 Full Review Ulf Goebel Call and Post (Cleveland) As I watched Death in Venice... I got the feeling I was looking at something rare indeed in the world of films -- a work of art. Jan 25, 2022 Full Review Read all reviews
Audience Member An Italian production about the death of not just someone but their entire life's meaning. Based on the book by Thomas Mann it focuses on a music composer Gustav Von Auschenbach. He's stricken by ennui. After arriving in the city of Italy he finds new passion for his work. But after a failed performance he starts to doubt his ability. That all changes when he sees a young boy with his mother. There is a lot of meandering shots in this whole thing; the two main leads don't even interact for most of the time. The real character that stands out next to the fantastic scenery is the score. Gives it enough of a dramatic edge. It's a bit empty when it comes to emotional heft though. But it does remind us there's almost no escape from the passage of time catching up to us all. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/03/24 Full Review Alan Joseph H A magnificent film, and one which I never tire of rewatching. It's best on a large screen because of the magnificent visuals. Some describe the movie as too slow, or even boring. Despite my tendency towards impatience, I did not find the film tedious in any way. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 03/01/24 Full Review A.L.Jude P Slow and boring without an output. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/16/24 Full Review Bob B Luchino Visconti's Death in Venice: I had heard of this movie for years and saw that it was, being offered on TCM and I had time to watch it, or so I thought. I will cut to the chase, it was too long, yes, parts of it were stunning to watch, to see the recreation of the early 20th century hotel, the "hats" (seemed over the top, if you will and extravagant) but I will move on. Everything was slow, you could read a chapter of a book as the camera time and again slowly pans a room, a street, a beach, a family walking to and from somewhere (no reason given, they just walk) as if we needed lots of time in nearly every scene to get the idea. Long. Long boat rides, long walks, distant camera shots of people crossing the sand, the walkways, the piazzas, etc., then in one excruciating scene of entertainers at the hotel on the veranda, I thought I would go mad, it went on and on, there was nothing great about it, it was dull, and as if to make some of us even more crazy, it was brought back as an encore! The combo of musicians featured a near toothless guitar player and other players, I assume it was for comic relief (NOT!) and was a dreadful annoying scene within this slow-paced film. All of it moved nothing forward it added nothing in my opinion to the beautiful boy Tadzio, standing at the rail while the closeted Count Aschenbach stares at him from a nearby table. In fact, there is a lot of starring. The beautiful boy and the Count Aschenbach never speak, they just look longingly at each other for dozens if not more times, they meet, nearly head on a few times, they do not speak, no one speaks, never. I watched half of the film one evening and finished it (growing ever restless with each scene) the next evening, resuming watching it with some deep stomach stabbing dread. When Count Aschenbach dies on the beach while sweating his hair color down his cheeks, while watching the beautiful boy grow distant into the smooth ocean water, I was glad he was dead, I was glad the movie was finally over. TMI in this film, it is spoiled due to a director who couldn't bring himself to throw away half of the film to make a good film. Every word written is not sacred (that's why we have editors) and every scene in a movie is not worth making an audience sit through it and watch the ego trip that it becomes. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 10/12/23 Full Review ViraRiva people saying this is art and a masterpiece....did we watch the same thing? all i saw was a boring movie about a pedophile stalking a teenage boy. story was slow and confusing at times. some of the interactions(staring at each other) of the man and the pretty boy were uncomfortable to watch. it was hard to distinguish what was reality vs memory/imagination of the man. overall i do not recommend this movie. came for the beautiful boy, left with creeper vibes. Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 08/07/23 Full Review Andrew F A beautiful and thought provoking film. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 07/08/23 Full Review Read all reviews
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Synopsis Composer Gustave Aschenbach (Dirk Bogarde) travels to a Venice resort to escape personal and artistic stress. However, peace eludes him as he develops a disturbing attraction to an adolescent boy, Tadzio (Björn Andresen). However, their lives are both threatened with a sudden outbreak of cholera.
Director
Luchino Visconti
Producer
Luchino Visconti
Screenwriter
Nicola Badalucco, Luchino Visconti, Thomas Mann
Distributor
Warner Bros. Pictures
Production Co
Alfa Cinematografica
Rating
PG
Genre
Drama, LGBTQ+
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Jun 17, 1971, Wide
Release Date (Streaming)
Jan 1, 2008
Runtime
2h 10m
Sound Mix
Stereo, Mono
Aspect Ratio
Scope (2.35:1)
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