Brittens Endgame

To mark the centenary of Benjamin Brittens birth Brittens Endgame explores the composers creativity in the face of death Those closest to him watched anxiously as he raced to complete his final opera Death in Venice in defiance of medical advice tackling an edgy subject with many resonances in his own life His eventual heart operation left him incapacitated and prematurely old and frail yet somehow he rediscovered his creative urge to produce two late masterpieces This is a rich and poignant film about Brittens final years and the impact of what Peter Pears called an evil opera