It is the 50-year anniversary of Lucino Visconti’s film Death in Venice. A film that circled festivals and garnered plenty of praise from critics and film fans. One person who was majorly impacted by the film’s release was Björn Andrésen, who was 15-years-old at the time of being cast in the film. Now, fifty years later, Andrésen reflects on that time and looks at what impact it made on his life.
The title of the film refers to a quote from Visconti at the world premiere of Death in Venice in London. In which Andrésen was called “the world’s most beautiful boy”. This film shows the casting process for the role of Tadzio, a boy that the lead character (Gustav von Aschenbach) would become obsessed with. Seeing the casting call for Andrésen is uncomfortable to watch. As are the press junkets and photo opportunities that he would have to do. Especially at the young age that he was.
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The narrative constantly jumps from focusing on the past and the present, forming what seems to be a jigsaw puzzle. There are aspects of Andrésen’s life that are shown in the present and talked about. And then the film focuses on the past to try and connect the pieces. For the most part, this is effective and paints a wonderful picture of who Andrésen is and what he wanted to be. You find out a lot about him. And it is easy to understand why he is the person he is now and why he has made the choices that he made throughout his life.
There are some subject matters in this film that I did not expect to get covered, but are perfectly fitted to Andrésen’s story. One narrative in particular is about the male gaze. And the fact that Andrésen for some boys were an ideal of what they wanted to be. Instead of talking about the female gaze and teen crushes, the subject matter focuses on the more serious issue of body positivity for men, and being a model of a gay community that he wasn’t directly a part of. It’s an interesting discussion to watch, especially from the person who was being pushed in that limelight.
I did not know going into this film that Andrésen was in Ari Aster’s Midsommar (2019), playing the elder who sacrifices themselves on the cliff, Dan. It will be nice for fans of that film to get to see small clips here of him on set, shooting that particularly scene on the cliff. However, the important message is that he still loves being on movie sets and filming. Despite what he felt as a 16-year-old swept away by the industry and being thrust into the forefront, it never took away any passion for acting and that is such a lovely thing to see.
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For a documentary, I am impressed at the level of filmmaking of this film. Not only is this wonderfully edited, never feeling too jarring or going away from the focal point too much, but the cinematography is stunning. The opening sequence is haunting, making you immediately question what sort of documentary this is going to be, but it’s gripping, immediately pulling you in. In contrast, the final shots are beautiful and capture the real heart of the documentary, and there was no better final shot for this film.
I went into this documentary not knowing much about Andrésen and wanting to learn more about his past. This film does a wonderful job of not only painting his life, but also him as a person. Whilst it is interesting to see the influence he had in the film industry at the time – and not just in Europe but around the world – the best moments focus on his story and his perspective. This film highlights the issues of being famous at a young age, and how it is something that needs to stop being glamourised in the film industry. This may end up being one of the best documentaries in what is a packed year of them at Sundance.
