The Most Beautiful Boy in the World

(2021) BBC Four, 9pm ★★★

In 1971, director Luchino Visconti adapted Thomas Mann’s novella Death in Venice. As this atmospheric documentary reveals, he had searched far and wide for the film’s subject. In Sweden, he met 15-year-old Björn Andrésen, who became a star but then spent the rest of his life in obscurity. Here lies a haunting portrait of the corrosive effects of fame.