Death in Venice (film)
Updated: 12/11/2025, 10:42:05 AM Wikipedia source
Death in Venice (Italian: Morte a Venezia) is a 1971 historical drama film directed and produced by Italian filmmaker Luchino Visconti, and adapted by Visconti and Nicola Badalucco from the 1912 novella of the same name by German author Thomas Mann. It stars Dirk Bogarde as Gustav von Aschenbach and Björn Andrésen as Tadzio, with supporting roles played by Mark Burns, Marisa Berenson, and Silvana Mangano, and was filmed in Technicolor by Pasqualino De Santis. The soundtrack consists of selections from Gustav Mahler's third and fifth symphonies, but characters in the film also perform pieces by Franz Lehár, Ludwig van Beethoven, and Modest Mussorgsky. Preceded by The Damned (1969) and followed by Ludwig (1973), the film is the second part of Visconti's thematic "German Trilogy". The film premiered in London on 1 March 1971, and was entered into the 24th Cannes Film Festival. It received positive reviews from critics and won several accolades, including, at the 25th British Academy Film Awards, the awards for Best Cinematography, Best Production Design, Best Costume Design, and Best Sound, in addition to nominations for Best Film, Best Direction, and Best Actor in a Leading Role for Dirk Bogarde. For his work on the film, Visconti won the David di Donatello Award for Best Director. Retrospectively, Death in Venice was ranked the 235th greatest film of all time in the 2012 Sight & Sound critics' poll, the 14th greatest arthouse film of all time by The Guardian in 2010, and the 27th greatest LGBT film of all time in a 2016 poll by the British Film Institute. It is the 209th greatest film of all time as per the list aggregation site They Shoot Pictures, Don't They?
Infobox
Tables
| Award | Year | Category | Nominee | Result |
| Academy Award | 1972 | Best Costume Design | Piero Tosi | Nominated |
| BAFTA Award | 1972 | Best Film | Nominated | |
| Best Direction | Luchino Visconti | Nominated | ||
| Best Actor in a Leading Role | Dirk Bogarde | Nominated | ||
| Best Cinematography | Pasqualino De Santis | Won | ||
| Best Production Design | Ferdinando Scarfiotti | Won | ||
| Best Costume Design | Piero Tosi | Won | ||
| Best Sound | Vittorio Trentino, Giuseppe Muratori | Won | ||
| Cannes Film Festival | 1971 | 25th Anniversary Award | Luchino Visconti | Won |
| Palme d'Or | Nominated | |||
| David di Donatello | 1971 | Best Director | Won | |
| French Syndicate of Cinema Critics | 1972 | Best Foreign Film | Won | |
| Kinema Junpo Award | 1972 | Best Foreign-Language Film | Won | |
| Best Foreign-Language Director | Luchino Visconti | Won | ||
| Nastro d'Argento | 1972 | Best Director | Won | |
| Best Supporting Actor | Romolo Valli | Nominated | ||
| Best Supporting Actress | Silvana Mangano | Won | ||
| Best Cinematography | Pasqualino De Santis | Won | ||
| Best Production Design | Ferdinando Scarfiotti | Won | ||
| Best Costume Design | Piero Tosi | Won | ||
| National Board of Review | 1972 | Top Ten Films | Won | |
| Sant Jordi Award | 1973 | Best Foreign Film | Luchino Visconti | Won |
References
- This was a special award created to make it possible to honor both this film and Joseph Losey's The Go-Between, which wo
- "Morte a Venezia (1971)"https://web.archive.org/web/20160321065930/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6b0ce272
- "Death in Venice (1971)"https://en.unifrance.org/movie/47925/death-in-venice
- Chicago Tribune
- BFIhttps://web.archive.org/web/20220329021414/https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6b0ce272/sightandsoundpoll2012
- The Guardianhttps://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/oct/20/death-venice-arthouse
- BFIhttps://www.bfi.org.uk/lists/30-best-lgbt-films-all-time
- TSPDThttps://www.theyshootpictures.com/gf1000_all1000films.htm
- The Guardianhttps://www.theguardian.com/film/2003/oct/16/gender.film
- IndieWirehttps://www.indiewire.com/2021/01/the-most-beautiful-boy-in-the-world-review-bjorn-andresen-1234611909/
- "The Most Beautiful Boy in the World"https://themostbeautifulboy.com
- Death in Venicehttps://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1005512-death_in_venice
- The Guardianhttps://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/mar/04/death-in-venice-review-slow-precise-beautiful-film-1971
- Timehttps://time.com/archive/6839171/cinema-soul-destroyed/
- "Death in Venice movie review & film summary (1971) | Roger Ebert"https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/death-in-venice-1971
- Quirk 1974, p. 208.https://archive.org/details/greatromanticfil00quir/page/208/mode/2up
- The Guardianhttps://www.theguardian.com/culture/2003/feb/14/artsfeatures5
- Xtra Magazinehttps://web.archive.org/web/20120615092650/http://www.xtra.ca/public/National/Montreal_author_Will_Aitken_revives_Death_in_Venice-11432.aspx
- LA BIENNALE DI VENEZIAhttp://www.labiennale.org/en/news/restored-films-venezia-classici
- The Criterion Collectionhttps://www.criterion.com/films/28699-death-in-venice
- "Festival de Cannes: Death in Venice"https://web.archive.org/web/20120925071455/http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/2424/year/1971.html
- www.goodiesruleok.comhttp://www.goodiesruleok.com/articles.php?id=62/
- Los Angeles Times