There’s nowhere on earth quite like Venice. The floating city, with its looming domes, bustling canals, spindly bridges, waterfront palazzos and drifting gondolas, sometimes feels like a hazy, idyllic land from a half-remembered dream. It’s why this glittering collection of islands has inspired everyone from Henry James and Edith Wharton to Casanova, Byron, Hemingway and Cocteau, not to mention auteurs like Luchino Visconti and David Lean, who have been turning their lenses on La Serenissima’s shimmering waters and honey-hued churches for the past half a century.
But, just as filmmakers have been captivated by the jaw-dropping beauty of Venice, they’ve also been intrigued by its mystery – when night falls, the city transforms into a misty, deserted, dimly lit labyrinth where a slowly simmering sense of danger seems to lurk just beneath the surface of the lagoon. As a result, for every sun-drenched, Venice-set rom-com , there are also plenty of spine-chillers which hone in on the city’s inherent spookiness. It’s this sheer abundance of atmosphere and theatricality that makes it the perfect setting for the Venice Film Festival , the oldest cinematic showcase of its kind, which kicks off its glamorous 81st edition on 28 August.
Ahead of opening night, we take a look back at the most ravishing releases which play out on these historic streets and waterways, from the ’50s to now. Summertime (1955) In David Lean’s swooningly gorgeous romance, a middle-aged secretary (a razor-sharp Katharine Hepburn) embarks on the solo trip of a lifetime to Venice – one which sees her fall for Rossano Brazzi’s suave Italian antiques dealer, who first catches her eye at a café in Piazza San Marco. Their courtship involves an accidental dip in the lagoon, moonlit concerts in ancient squares, meandering strolls across tiny bridges, waltzes at canalside nightclubs and windswept speedboat rides, as well as a bittersweet understanding that nothing beautiful lasts forever.
It also captures the ecstatic, wide-eyed amazement of seeing Venice for the first time quite unlike anything else. Death in Venice (1971) A deep and prevailing sense of sadness envelops you for the duration of Luchino Visconti’s sumptuous arthouse classic, the tale of Dirk Bogarde’s ailing composer, who arrives on the serene beaches of the Lido and develops a platonic obsession with an angelic young boy (Björn Andrésen). The camera lingers on the latter’s exquisite beauty, but also that of the city – resplendent in its flushed pink sunsets, tranquil waters and artfully crumbling palaces – while also giving us tantalising glimpses of its dark and decaying underbelly.
Don’t Look Now (1973) Never have Venice’s maze-like streets looked spookier than when captured by Nicolas Roeg in this twisty, hair-raising thriller. At its centre is Laura and John Baxter (Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland), a haunted couple mourning the death of their young daughter from a sudden and tragic drowning. When they arrive in the city, where John has been commissioned to restore an ancient church in the depths of winter, he begins seeing the girl everywhere – her cherry-red coat always darting just out of view, behind abandoned palazzos and down cobblestone alleyways.
The moment he finally tracks her down is chilling to say the least – and is guaranteed to leave you looking over your shoulder on your next after-dinner walk across Venice. The Wings of the Dove (1997) Venice becomes the stage for sultry, secret assignations in Iain Softley’s exemplary Henry James adaptation, which follows Helena Bonham Carter as a calculated young woman living in London at the turn of the century who is determined to marry a penniless journalist (Linus Roache) despite the objections of her wealthy and domineering aunt (Charlotte Rampling). Cue a friendship with an effervescent American heiress (Alison Elliott) and, upon discovering that the said visitor is terminally ill, a plot to set her up with her own lover in hopes that he could then inherit her estate and become more eligible in the eyes of her guardian.
As the free-spirited trio travel to Venice, floating around in gondolas, picnicking canalside and attending masked balls, sparks fly – and the city looks as stunning as ever. The Talented Mr Ripley (1999) After worming his way into the lives of his first victims, Dickie Greenleaf (Jude Law) and Marge Sherwood (Gwyneth Paltrow) on the Amalfi coast, assuming a false identity in San Remo and dispatching with Freddie Miles (Philip Seymour Hoffman) in Rome, Matt Damon’s slippery Tom Ripley departs for Venice – the city he was always most eager to see and the one which, with its shadowy corners, hidden palaces and candlelit cathedrals, seems to suit him best. (Look out, too, for a red-lipped Paltrow, dressed in a leopard-print coat and hat, lighting up on one of the streetside tables at Caffè Florian.
) Too fleeting a visit for you? Follow up your viewing with Netflix’s Ripley , in which Andrew Scott’s take on the prolific grifter lingers slightly longer, also sipping wine at Florian, drifting down the Grand Canal, holing up in a magnificent palazzo and rubbing shoulders with high society at the most extravagant Venetian parties. Casino Royale (2006) Daniel Craig’s first outing as Bond takes the rugged new leading man to Madagascar, the Bahamas and Montenegro, but the captivating locale which tops the list is surely sun-soaked Venice, where 007 and his beloved Vesper (Eva Green) escape to for an impromptu honeymoon of sorts. But, their bliss is short lived – an explosive betrayal prompts a chase across St Mark’s Square, leading to a shoot-out in a collapsing palazzo which eventually sinks into the water.
Unforgettable. The Souvenir (2019) In Joanna Hogg’s wonderfully intimate, semi-autobiographical coming-of-age saga, Honor Swinton Byrne’s sensitive Julie and Tom Burke’s troubled Anthony go to Venice – a sojourn which is recalled in dreamlike fragments: an image of the Grand Canal, cold, foggy and lit by lanterns; a shot of a silk opera gown trailing down a bridge as Julie hurries to keep up with Anthony. It’s brief, but a moment our heroine never forgets – and, like every trip to Venice, feels like something out of a fairytale.
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