The original title of the film is Morte a Venezia.

Absolutely gorgeous film. The parts I saw when I wasn't nodding off, anyway.

The film was really long and dilated, hard to grasp the overall meaning of what was shown, without necessarily much historical accuracy or realism. Of course, everyone would dream such an empty Venice, and the cinematography saved an otherwise too slow film.

There is in this film a look towards death that is sustained in the androgynous symbolism of Tadzio and the decay of the environment (Venice) and of artistic failure (Gustav). It is the idealization of beauty and youth, the fantasy seen from reality (the gaze hidden behind the newspaper). Death that looks at life, the mask that melts in the city of masks. The hope of reaching the unattainable.

Sickness is in health, not sickness and in health.