DEATH IN VENICE (1971)

Who says the French have a monopoly on ennui? This month, we’re diving into one of melodrama master Luchino Visconti’s most decadent and devastating works—a sun-drenched fever dream about beauty, decay, and the unbearable weight of desire. Join us as we discuss...

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DEATH IN VENICE ("Morte a Venezia", 1971)
Dir. by Luchino Visconti
Available to rent on YouTube, Amazon Prime, and AppleTV

Does beauty spring eternal? Or does it die with the rest of us? A weary, buttoned-up composer retreating to the Lido di Venezia in search of rest, Gustav von Aschenbach instead finds himself transfixed by an impossibly beautiful boy named Tadzio. As his fascination deepens, the city rots quietly around him—its canals growing still, its silence growing louder. All is not well in this timeless place, a place which will set the stage for a slow, operatic collapse into obsession where art and death go hand in hand. Adapted from Thomas Mann’s haunting novella, Death in Venice is as much about longing as it is about the impossibility of ever touching what we long for. Every shot glows with gold and grief. And every moment feels like it’s about to end.

An exquisitely stylized meditation on age, art, and the deadly lure of perfection, Visconti’s film is less a story than a trance - a melancholic fugue state of desire, beauty, and the ticking clock that binds us all. Let's talk about it!

*As always, this is a movie discussion group—we invite you to watch the film on your own ahead of time, and come ready to discuss.*