Reference Film: IX - MORTE A VENEZIA by Luchino Visconti

Morte a Venezia (1971)
Directed by Luchino Visconti
Writing credits: Thomas Mann (novel) and Luchino Visconti (screenplay)
Also Known As:
Death in Venice (Canada: English title) (UK) (USA)
Mort à Venise (France)
Runtime: 130 min
Country: Italy / France
Language: German / Polish / French
Colour: Colour (Technicolor)
Sound Mix: Mono

Cast Credits:
Dirk Bogarde as Gustav von Aschenbach
Romolo Valli as Hotel manager
Mark Burns as Alfred
Nora Ricci as Governess
Marisa Berenson as Frau von Aschenbach
Carole André as Esmeralda
Bjørn Andresen as Tadzio (as Björn Andresen)
Silvana Mangano as Tadzio's mother
Leslie French as Travel Agent
Franco Fabrizi as Barber

Summary
Luchino Visconti's 'Death in Venice' is one of the most misunderstood masterpieces of cinema. Based on Thomas Mann's 1913 classic novella of the same name, the film not only capture the quintessential of the novel but also reinforce a powerful questioning through superb visuals.

The avant-garde composer Gustave Aschenbach (loosely based on Gustav Mahler) travels to a Venetian seaside resort in search of repose after a period of artistic and personal stress. But he finds no peace there, for he soon develops a troubling attraction to an adolescent boy, Tadzio, on vacation with his family.
The boy embodies an ideal of beauty that Aschenbach has long sought and he becomes infatuated. However, the onset of a deadly pestilence threatens them both physically and represents the corruption that compromises and threatens all ideals.