Very interesting documentary about a human being sacrificed on the altar of the Seventh Art ;in 1972 , Visconti was at the peak of his genius and he had flair for discovering actors (Helmut Berger ,one of his lovers ,was prodigious in "la cadeti dei degli" and "Ludwig".)
So he spent some time to find the beautiful boy who would fascinate Dirk Bogarde in the fascinating "death in Venice" ;but,unlike Berger, Bjorn was still a child , traumatized by his mom's death when he was too young; although the director insisted the boy was his protégé and his love remained platonic, he did not seem to realize the young actor was overtaken by events : the newsreel at the movie première is revealing :the boy seems to live in a dream , or rather a sweet nightmare :he seems ill-at-ease among these stars (you can spot Romy Schneider on one photograph) and he never was to get over this "too much too soon" celebrity .
The doc blends the past ( the boy photographed from every angle ,even shirtless, pictures of Venice and of the places where the movie took place) and the present : Bjorn has become a long-haired bearded gaunt man (born 1955) ,old before his time ; the first scene in his apartment shows a guy who does not take care of himself ; his half-sister was perhaps his only helping hand when he was a kid, now she's replaced by his daughter even though his marriage was a failure ; now the man wanders aimlessly on the beach, watching the sea;he has returned to Venice ,but although he has become (reluctantly) a gay icon, his life was forever destroyed in a luxury hotel where Silvana Mangano was only a celluloid mother.
So he spent some time to find the beautiful boy who would fascinate Dirk Bogarde in the fascinating "death in Venice" ;but,unlike Berger, Bjorn was still a child , traumatized by his mom's death when he was too young; although the director insisted the boy was his protégé and his love remained platonic, he did not seem to realize the young actor was overtaken by events : the newsreel at the movie première is revealing :the boy seems to live in a dream , or rather a sweet nightmare :he seems ill-at-ease among these stars (you can spot Romy Schneider on one photograph) and he never was to get over this "too much too soon" celebrity .
The doc blends the past ( the boy photographed from every angle ,even shirtless, pictures of Venice and of the places where the movie took place) and the present : Bjorn has become a long-haired bearded gaunt man (born 1955) ,old before his time ; the first scene in his apartment shows a guy who does not take care of himself ; his half-sister was perhaps his only helping hand when he was a kid, now she's replaced by his daughter even though his marriage was a failure ; now the man wanders aimlessly on the beach, watching the sea;he has returned to Venice ,but although he has become (reluctantly) a gay icon, his life was forever destroyed in a luxury hotel where Silvana Mangano was only a celluloid mother.