Armand Appreciation Week 2010
Apart from the obvious reference to Venice where Armand lived for a while under Marius' custody, there are a lot of common themes between the movie (and the novella that inspired it) and what makes Armand's character remarkable.
It's the same fascination for the embodiment of beauty and purity, emphasized by art. A longing for eternal youth, also, that may become more obsessive as we no longer are young, ourselves.
In the movie, the object of that fascination, Tadzio, was played by Bjorn Andresen. He became an instant idol for that, but it didn't bring him much luck.
He was quoted saying 'My career is one of the few that started at the absolute top and then worked its way down,' he says. 'That was lonely.' Says Wikipedia, in addition to being an actor, Andrésen is also a professional musician, and until recently performed and toured regularly with the Sven Erics dance band.