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This is a musically and visually superb treatment of a 20th-century masterpiece. Based on Thomas Mann's novella, Benjamin Britten's last opera is not only a story of hopeless, idealistic, vaguely homoerotic love; it touches on deep philosophical questions: the nature of beauty, the agony of creativity and the greater agony of its loss; the ravages of time, the conventions and rituals we devise to mask life's horrible vacuums; ultimately, the mysterious meaning of life and death. The cast is small and excellent: Robert Gard is the aging writer, Christoph von Aschenbach, whose genius has dried up but seems about to revive in the contemplation of an aristocratic boy he encounters in Venice. John Shirley-Quirk contributes equally to the effect in a half-dozen cameo roles that he pioneered in the first production under Britten's supervision. Steuart Bedford conducted that premiere, working closely with the composer. Director Palmer takes full advantage of the film medium's freedom to make Venice a character--monumental and crumbling buildings, seascapes, canals, bridges, and gondolas; the visuals are often breathtaking. --Joe McLellan
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