The Most Beautiful Boy in the World
Death in Venice
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1h 38m
Directed by Kristina Lindström and Kristian Petri • 2021 • Sweden
Starring Björn Andrésen, Riyoko Ikeda, Margareta Krantz
THE MOST BEAUTIFUL BOY IN THE WORLD follows Björn Andrésen, who was propelled to international stardom at the age of fifteen based on his looks. In 1969, filmmaker Luchino Visconti scoured Europe looking for the perfect boy to personify absolute beauty in his adaptation of Thomas Mann’s “Death in Venice.” One year later, he discovered Björn, a shy Swedish teenager whose performance as Tadzio brought him overnight fame and led to a brief, intense, and turbulent odyssey that took him from the Lido in Venice to London, the Cannes Film Festival, and faraway Japan. At the London premiere of DEATH IN VENICE Visconti proclaimed his Tadzio “the world’s most beautiful boy.” Fifty years later, Björn takes us on a remarkable journey made of personal memories, cinema history, stardust, and tragedy in what could be his last attempt to finally get his life back on track.
Up Next in Death in Venice
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Luchino Visconti: Life as in a Novel
This 2008 documentary about the career of DEATH IN VENICE director Luchino Visconti features new and archival interviews with Visconti: actors Burt Lancaster, Silvana Mangano, and Marcello Mastroianni; filmmakers Francesco Rosi and Franco Zeffirelli; and others.
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Stefano Albertini on DEATH IN VENICE
In this 2018 program, literature and cinema scholar Stefano Albertini provides context for DEATH IN VENICE within Italian culture and explores the career, style, and themes of director Luchino Visconti.
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Alla ricerca di Tadzio
Made in 1970, this program follows director Luchino Visconti as he searches all over Europe for an actor to fill the role of Tadzio in his dream project, DEATH IN VENICE, before discovering Björn Andrésen.
