Distributed by Restart Label, the Swedish documentary film “The Most Beautiful Boy in the World” is coming to independent cinemas across the country, which problematizes sexual objectification and the weight of fame on the example of the tragic fate of Björn Andrésen, the boy who embodied the ideal of absolute beauty in Visconti’s classic “Death in Venice”.
In 1970, the famous Italian director Luchino Visconti travels through Europe in search of a boy with a perfect face worthy of the ideal of absolute beauty for the purposes of his new film, an adaptation of the novel by Thomas Mann. In Stockholm, he discovers Björn Andrésen, a shy 15-year-old with an angelic face, whom he hires for the role and calls him “the most beautiful boy in the world”. As a result of the great success of “Death in Venice”, Björn’s face becomes world famous, film critics of the time compare him to Michelangelo’s David, and he spends a short but intense part of his youth between Lido in Venice, London, the Cannes Film Festival and faraway Japan, completely lost and vulnerable in the predatory atmosphere of circles that objectify his appearance and exploit his youth, thus turning him into “the saddest man in the world”.
The most talked-about film during its premiere at the prestigious Sundance, “The Most Beautiful Boy in the World” follows Andrésen fifty years after the film’s premiere, leading him on an extraordinary documentary journey made of archival footage, film history, stardust and tragic events, and opening today painfully topical issues.
The premiere screening of the film awaits us at cinema Dokukino KIC on Thursday, March 16, starting at 7 p.m., followed by an interview with actors Marija Škaričić and Karlo Mlinar, and theater director and former ADU dean Franka Perković.
*** In the organization of Restart, joint screenings of the films “Death in Venice” and “The Most Beautiful Boy in the World” will be held in certain cinemas in order to mark the anniversary of the release of the famous classic (1971) but also the anniversary of Visconti’s death (1976) and how by watching both films, viewers would gain a better impression and better understand Björn Andrésen’s personal story, but also the entire issue of the treatment of child actors and their sexual objectification.
