Death in Venice
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DVD details
Actor: Dirk Bogarde, Marisa Berenson, Mark Burns, Nora Ricci, Romolo ValliBrand: BOGARDE,DIRK
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 130 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-02-17
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Warner Home Video
DVD Reviews of Death in Venice
DVD Review: Parting glances
Summary: 5 Stars
Depending on whom you ask, Visconti's "Death in Venice" is either the most monumentally boring and pretentious film ever made or a wonderfully poetic and profound reflection on life, death, and what it takes to be a great artist. While I agree that gazing for hours into Andresen's ever-sleepy eyes can be a bit yawn-inducing at some points, in general I am in the latter camp. If beauty is its own justification (and consequently does not need words), then this work may perhaps be seen as the almost perfect embodiment of that idea in filmic form -- a movie with relatively little dialogue of any importance to the plot that completely relies on its photography and the Mahler symphonies as a score to convey whatever it has to say. And surprisingly, this movie actually feels less boring each time you watch it, so those who think it to be tedious have not seen it once too many but not often enough.
The novella on which this is based is well-known, but Visconti does not exactly make it easier for his viewers by doing away with the amusing little asides Mann gives us about von Aschenbach: "a man who had learned to administrate his fame", for instance. There are some flashbacks and Bogarde does his best to fill in missing details about his character by subtle facial expressions and body language, but it still helps enormously to have read the novella. Otherwise, even though the story seems simple enough at first glance, it might be a bit confusing at times. And that does not even cover all the little things Visconti throws in in top of what is in the novella, for example what is it about the photographer at the beach with his monstrous camera, which is featured so prominently in the scene at the end when Tadzio walks out into the sea? Also notice that the steamer that brings von Aschenbach to Venice is called 'Esmeralda', like the young prostitute we se him visiting in Germany in one of the flashbacks. Several viewings are required to fully catch each of these little details.
The movie relishes in contrasting the external and obvious with the internal and hidden. Just like the cholera epidemic that strikes Venice, von Aschenbach's emotional turmoils take place behind a stoic facade that only gets cracks during the finale of the film. Or study the gestures and facial expressions of the hotel director (the same actor who played the family priest in "The Leopard") when von Aschenbach is not looking at him. Ambiguity is really the keyword here.
Perhaps this is also the only film from the 1970s where the constant use of the zoom lens actually makes sense from a storytelling standpoint, because it allows us to go without cuts from the external (the hotel, the beach, people chatting, etc.) to the internal, to drill into von Aschenbach's eyes and soul and explore the unspoken thing that goes on between him and Tadzio.
The gist of the film seems to be that von Aschenbach realizes that his German friend Alfred is actually right -- to be a really great artist you have to open yourself fully to the subject of your art. But unfortunately, as soon as he accomplishes that, he also falls prey to his self-destructive, obsessive tendencies, which were probably the reason why he always tried to control himself as much as possible in the first place. His death is also ambiguous -- while he may simply have succumbed to cholera (external cause), he might also have died of an artist's broken heart (internal cause) -- the realization that he may never be able to create the perfectly beautiful work of art he desires, as symbolized in the movie by Tadzio.
The brilliant Criterion edition of "The Leopard" makes you wish that all Visconti films had been shot in Technirama and that they were all available from Criterion. But of course that is not the case. This one is in Panavision and when you compare it to "The Leopard", you do see the picture is a bit fuzzier and more grainy here, either due to the smaller negative or because WB did not do such a good job with the transfer. (If your DVD player has any post-processing options for improving image clarity it might be a good idea to turn them on for this disc.) Unfortunately, Visconti's zoom lens not only adds even more softness to the image but also some noticeable chromatic aberration (i.e., those colorful fringes around bright objects), particularly in the outdoor scenes. But in general the quality of the visuals is quite acceptable.
But maybe this film should never have been shot anamorphic in the first place. "The Leopard" was all about wide shots of sprawling landscapes and huge palace rooms, while "Death in Venice" mostly deals with closeups of faces. I have always felt that these more intimate movies actually work better in 4:3 than an anamorphic format, as it lets the audience concentrate more on the actors's facial expressions. (That is also why I have my reservations about people using 16:9 in their home movies to make them look more "professional".) As it is, I will make the heretic-sounding recommendation to use the zoom function of the DVD player to fill the 16:9 screen. You may find that the movie actually benefits from the tighter framing and that von Aschenbach's desperation in the end feels even more palpable than in 2.39:1. And you will discover the composition is still perfect in the cropped version -- Visconti knew better than to put important people or objects at the edges of his Panavision frame.
The extras on the disc are not exactly mind-blowing, although there is a ten-minute featurette with Visconti on the set of the movie, which is quite interesting, since Visconti generally did not talk about his work very much. So it is fascinating to at least get a glimpse of his approach to filmmaking. The English subtitles are also worth reading, as they translate a lot of all the French, Italian, Polish, and muffled English dialogue. Not that it is important for the plot, but enlightening nonetheless.
I also don't understand why WB still uses those flimsy cardboard/plastic cases for their DVDs. Perhaps they should realize that those cases not only look cheap but are also extremely inconvenient (especially when you try to peel off those plastic labels on the front and the cardboard underneath sticks to them and tears off!). A move to the cases everybody else is using would be much appreciated. But this is still an excellent movie, no matter what type of case it may come in. One of the masterpieces of a director who might only have Kubrick as a near-equal.
Description of Death in Venice
A famous composer takes a vacation in Venice, where he becomes obsessed with a young man. When a cholera epidemic takes over the city, he does not leave, just to stay near the boy.Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: PG
Release Date: 17-FEB-2004
Media Type: DVD
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