It's hard to see a film about a middle aged man falling in love/becoming obsessed with a beautiful blonde boy being attended by Queen Elizabeth II these days but that's what happened back in 1971. A different time, no doubt: also it was based on a novella by Thomas Mann, starred Dirk Bogarde and was directed by Visconti.
Some people rave about this film, but I couldn't get into it - maybe the subject matter made me uncomfortable, but also it's very light on story. It goes for over two hours and not that much happens: Bogarde stares at the kid around Venice; we have some flashbacks to his old married life (he had a child who died); more flashbacks to chat to an old colleague who encouraged his art, and dyeing his hair.
The photography and composition of shots are superb - it looks beautiful, and Mahler's music is wonderful. Some of Bogarde's make up looked a bit funny, and for me robbed from his death scene. Bogarde himself is excellent in a role that brings together many of the qualities he had perfected on screen - tormented, soulful, etc. It's a tricky piece of play too because there's not much dialogue and an awful lot of looking.
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