The hidden side behind the so-called happiness of “the most beautiful child in the world”

More than half a century later, “most beautiful boy in the world“, few people remember his name Bjorn Andresen But they did recognize the adolescent faces that made 1971 the object of desire in the film industry. However, the Swedish actor and musician has spent his life in denial about a legacy that still haunts him, and because he is only known for his pretty face. Since then, more than fifty years ago, Andresen has spent his entire adult life wishing to be invisible.so that no one would notice his presence.

At just 15 years old, the Stockholm-born actor became the object of desire in the story, and the director went out of his way to praise his face as a paragon of perfect beauty.Italian Lucino Visconti He chose him himself from among dozens of teenagers – including Miguel Bosse (nation)– Take on the role of Tadzio, a young man who, without saying a word, dazzles and captivates the protagonist, an adult composer, played by Dirk Bogarde, who is going through an existential crisis.

this movie is death in venice, Adapted from a short story by Thomas Mann, director leopard It reflects an obsession with pastoral beauty through a lens that focuses on amplifying the images of young performers. At the time, the plans caused a media sensation and catapulted the young Swede to fame, but five years later they border on the absurd. Luckily, we’re now more aware of the dangers of youthful sexuality in the adult world, and I admit these sequences are among the worst to age with time.

The video reflects perfection and unattainable beauty, however, it delves into a swampy area such as the passion and sexual obsession of grown men with teens. To make this obsession explicit, The directing borders on tedious, slow shots focused on young Andresen’s face, and the script calls for him to play with Adonis’ gaze and pose for the camera.

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For those who don’t remember or haven’t seen it, death in venice It follows the crisis of a composer who travels to Lido to escape stress and problems. Once there, he develops an unhealthy crush on a 14-year-old boy whom he chases, spies and stalks but never talks to; while discovering that the city’s cholera epidemic is being covered up. The problem is that the film makes this obsession explicit, as if Bjorn’s character is participant and provocateur.

Howeverthe tape was only Bjorn’s second film experience, through a situation that traumatized him for life. For him, Visconti bordered on child exploitation. In 2003 he told guardian He felt he was being “used” and noted that “I’m against adults’ love for teenagers”. Maybe emotionally and intellectually, it upsets me because I have some inside perspective. “ In addition to making him the subject of the film, Bjorn remembers how the director forced him to go with him and a member of the team to a gay bar, where he claimed to feel observed while attracting the attention of legal professionals. age. “They looked at me like I was a plate of meat,” he recalls. But his age, inexperience and professional commitment prevented him from responding. “I know I can’t react. It would be social suicide. But it’s just the first meeting of many.”, Told by then.

Later, in another interview with the same British newspaper in 2021, he said the director “never cared” how he felt, and declared loud and clear that the film had “ruined his life”.

died at Venice In 1970, at the age of 16, he caused a sensation at the Cannes Film Festival and a few months later, thanks to his box office success, he became one of the most popular faces of the 7th art world. This phenomenon brought young Bjorn to the attention of the media, his face was featured in magazines, circulated around the world, and the media began to question his sexuality due to the visual nature of the film.

. He has denied it publicly, and repeatedly at the insistence of the media about something so personal. What’s more, all kinds of invitations came to him, trying to capitalize on his reputation as a “beautiful boy”. But he rejected them all.

Facing the stress he was under, Bjorn grew up with his grandparents when his mother committed suicide when he was ten years old. On his grandmother’s advice, he went to Japan, where movies were very popular. Once there, by his own account, success knocked on his door, recording several commercials and two songs while being chased down the street as if he were a member of the Beatles. protector.

Since his desire to succeed in the music world wasn’t cemented, he had to go on to take on other roles in the film, though none of them were notorious enough to remove the label. “The worst part is that no one pays attention to your ambitions, your dreams or who you are.” Sorry for his success. She’s just a pretty face and nobody cares about the rest. Not even saying he’s a research-backed musician.

“I felt like a strange animal in a cage” He said not long ago that he had spent most of his life trying to regain his anonymity. In a way, decades later, it did. At the age of 68, few people know him, and the proof is that this man with an impressive story is the old man who jumped from the ravine we see in horror movies, midsummer. At the age of 72, he committed suicide and was finally hit for failing to achieve his goal.

I can’t help but imagine how hard it must have been for him to carry the legacy of “the most beautiful boy in the world” through his life. More importantly, when he avoids exploiting the label and instead seeks artistic and professional escape routes that separate him from it. In fact, he was an accomplished pianist, but this detail is almost unknown. “Everything I do will be about that movie. I mean, we’re still sitting here 50 years later talking about it,” he told guardian 2021.

How do you bear such a burden, the public eye, curiosity and media pressure? Watching the film, we can infer that Visconti didn’t stop to think about the impact his lens might have had on the life of a young man just beginning his artistic path. Or maybe he doesn’t care… who knows.

Indeed, depictions of teenage sexual awakening are common in movies, and if that was what the movie was about, then maybe it wouldn’t have aroused such curiosity.but death in venice Insisting on creating an aura of untouchable beauty for Bjorn turns him into a purely sexual object, culminating in an orgasmic fantasy ending.

Considering this was the young Bjorn’s first experience as an actor, it’s not hard to imagine how overwhelming it was for him. Forced to become an icon of beauty and obsessed fantasy, a young man feels surveilled for decades because of a single movie. A movie where he’s not even the main character. And just to have a pretty face.

This article was written by Cine54 exclusively for Yahoo en Español.

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