The Most Beautiful Boy in the World

Bjorn Andresson's mother committed suicide when he was very young. He was then cast in Visconti's film 'Death in Venice', as Tadzio, who was, in the eyes of the film's main protagonist, "the most beautiful boy in the world". Subsequently, he does not consider himself to have had a very happy life. We're all made, at least in part, by our experiences; Bjorn, perhaps, was not well-served by his. Because his story is so particular, and peculiar, there's some interest here; but at the same time, things happen to all of us. One doesn't have to blame Bjorn for how his life turned out to see that there aren't stright lines between its beginning and its end; and sadly, there are many people who are unhappy and depressed, even those whose lives have contained little of external note. Sometimes, it's more interesting to watch a documentary than a fiction inspired by the truth; here, I felt that a novelisation of Bjorn's life might bee interesting than a straighforward reporting.

A rare example of extreme proximity to the subject of this compelling documentary.,The moment that he tells about the death of his son is heartbreakingly honest. So much respect for this man that lost his mother, never knew his father, fell into the hands of an over ambitious and selfish grandma, was selected, owned, degraded and discarded by Visconti, couldn't grow up normally because of his instant fame and could never get rid of Tadzio ever again.

Did anyone else feel really uncomfortable with the way the filmmakers handled Bjorn reading the details surrounding his mother's death?

It's clearly a very traumatic experience for him, and quite right too, but the film makers refuse to cut away, keeping the camera rolling as it edges closer and closer to Bjorn's face.

Now maybe Bjorn requested that they don't shy away from capturing that moment, but it just didn't sit well with me. Particularly from a film whose key angle is the exploration of Bjorn's potential exploitation as a child. Can you really cry "exploitation" whilst being exploitative?

This film could have been a true gem. Sadly, the fascinating background story of Luchino Visconti's "Death in Venice" quickly dissolves into a diluted, weird, shallow and to be honest simply boring exploration of what happened to the most beautiful boy in the world (without at all creating an in-depth portrait). All of the most interesting moments and crucial story parts were actually in the trailer which is great, but there's not much more to this film than the trailer.

The whole film keeps you thinking "NOW we'll find out......OK, this will explain everything" and it never does. Bjorn floats through the whole thing artfully coiffed in dramatic long coats, gazing pensively out of windows, but ultimately we are none the wiser. Appeared in a film as a kid, no follow up film career to speak of, didn't handle it well. Unfortunately a very familiar tale of flash in the pan success that promised a lot but left another aspirational youngster high and dry. This is probably the highest point of his career since Death in Venice. Disappointing and over long.