The Most Beautiful Boy in the World

The Most Beautiful Boy in the World, co-directed by Kristina Lindström and Kristian Petri, is a Swedish documentary about Björn Andrésen, the Swedish actor who played the lead at age 15 in Luchino Visconti's 1971 film Death in Venice. Visconti, touring Europe in 1970 in search of "the perfect boy" for the film, discovered Andrésen and, at the film's premiere, called him "the most beautiful boy in the world." The filmmakers followed Andrésen for five years, surfacing disturbing footage of parental neglect, mental health struggles, and an exploitative audition; the film reveals that in real life Andrésen lost his mother under tragic circumstances, lost his own infant son to sudden infant death syndrome, and struggled with alcoholism. The film had its world premiere in the World Cinema Documentary Competition at Sundance in January 2021. Björn Andrésen died on October 27, 2025, at age 70. Who it's for: anyone curious about a documentary that spent five years following an actor once declared "the most beautiful boy in the world," surfacing the real trauma behind that title. Who it's not for: viewers wanting a nostalgic, celebratory "former star" documentary, since the film directly confronts exploitation and trauma.