Death in Venice

While away in Venice, a tormented composer (Dirk Bogarde) finds himself falling for teenager Tadzio (Björn Andresen) , in this classic adaptation of Thomas Mann's elegy from Luchino Visconti.

Playing Gustav von Aschenbach for the director he dubbed ‘the Emperor’ was, said Bogarde, the pick of his career. Both film and performance divided critical opinion, but there is no denying the extraordinary impact given by Visconti to Thomas Mann’s elegy, with a ravishing aesthetic – both visual, through the photography of Pasqualino De Santis, and aural, through the music of Mahler.