“It is rare to encounter a work that is almost entirely devoted to depicting the gaze of its protagonist (an elderly composer). During his convalescence in Venice, he becomes utterly captivated by a beautiful young boy, gradually falling into self-doubt and even neglecting his own life. This 1971 classic, adapted from the novel of the same name, uses such a seemingly simple story to explore an eternal human question: what, ultimately, is the beauty of art? What is the beauty of life?”
Fai HONG
Adaptation of Thomas Mann’s powerful novel. Composer Gustave Aschenbach 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.