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| A painted poster that doesn't at all do Luchino Visconti's The Leopard or its stars justice |
If you only watch one more film for the rest of your life, let it be The Leopard by Milanese master filmmaker Luchino Visconti (Death in Venice/Morte a Venezia (1971)), based on the same-titled 1958 novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, his only novel.
On Sicily in the years 1860 to 1862, the Prince of Salinas steers his aristocratic family safely forward, as the rebel Garibaldi attacks royalist troops and unites Italy, and a promising marriage approaches in his nearest family.
From the very first frames of this epic period drama, it is clear that it is a work of extraordinary visual beauty. The cinematography by Giuseppe Rotunno (The Stendhal Syndrome/La Sindrome di Stendhal (1996)) captures the Sicilian landscapes and the often flamboyant interiors with equal measures of grace and profundity and wisely withstands close-ups for the vast majority of the film in place of more distanced, picturesque offerings.
Visconti adapted the novel with screenwriters Suso Cecchi D'Amico (What a Woman/La Fortuna di Essere Donna (1956)), Pasquale Festa Campanile (Rocco and His Brothers/Rocco e i Suoi Fratelli (1960)), Enrico Medioli (Once Upon a Time in America (1984)) and Massimo Franciosa (Rocco and His Brothers). It is a mature story of love, war, marriage, Sicily, Italy, aging and death. Sequence after sequence stuns and affects with its humor, its sharp and often profound dialog and its magnificent images.
Nino Rota (Amarcord (1973)) has composed the beautiful score, and Mario Serandrei (The Battle of Algiers/La Battaglia di Algeri (1966)) has edited the film just perfectly. It trusts its own attraction in its visuals and strong characters to overcome the fact that this isn't a plot-driven film, and the editing of several sequences, including the fancy ball scenes that make up nearly the last hour of the film is not only bold but piercingly insightful. This last third of the film is arguably its most miraculous, perfectly portraying the uniquely lonely and desolate feeling of being isolated in a major festivity setting.
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| A still from the overwhelming, fantastic civil war scenes from Luchino Visconti's The Leopard |
The battle scenes are incredible, and so different in their purity, (regrettably, one might add), from the way that war plays out in our time.
The Leopard, of course, attains its masterpiece status as one of the best films ever made not least because of its brilliant cast:
Burt Lancaster (From Here to Eternity (1953)) got his career's arguably best part as the Prince of Salinas, the ultimate, wise, Conservative patriarch, a personified institution on the Mediterranean island, where he is like a lion on the savanna. In the latter scenes where the Prince becomes morose, Lancaster plays him with astounding sensibility, but he is a study in formidable character acting from start to finish here.
Behind the Prince, Alain Delon (Le Samuroaï (1967)) might be the most dashing actor in a film ever as his nephew, and Claudia Cardinale (Once Upon a Time in America/C'Era una Volta il West (1968)) equals his beauty with her voluptuous grace, fantastically memorable vulgar laugh and perpetually, and awfully charming, puckered forehead.
In supporting parts, the film also has some extremely fine and funny roles for some esteemed Italian actors: Paolo Stoppa (Garibaldi (1961)) as Don Calogero, Rina Morelli (The Joy of Living/Che Gioia Vivere (1961)) as the hysterical Princess of Salina, Romolo Valli (The Garden of the Finzi-Continis/Il Giardino dei Finzi Contini (1970)) as Father Pirrone and Terrence Hill (My Name Is Nobody/Il Mio Nome è Nessuno (1973)), who is also quite handsome as Delon's army chum, are all delightful.
The Leopard demands attention and concentration but is an infinitely worthwhile film. SPOILER Even in the end, it doesn't give us and its title character the movie ending that would seem obvious; he doesn't get to die.
The Leopard doesn't give contrivances, it gives life.
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| Burt Lancaster in the role of his life, as Luchino Visconti's The Leopard |
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| Claudia Cardinale and Alain Delon in Luchino Visconti's The Leopard |
Watch the American trailer for the film here, - which doesn't do it justice at all
Cost: 2.9 Bil. ITL
Box office: 1.8 mil. $ (North America only)
= Uncertainty
[Visconti originally wanted Russian star Nikolai Cherkasov for the lead, but he wouldn't be in the film. The American studio Fox gave their contribution to the budget with star Lancaster attached, which made Visconti angry, because he didn't get a say in the matter, - but it turned out to be a great collaboration after all. Visconti, being gay and naturally enamored with Delon, gave him the only dressing room available, so that the film's star Lancaster reportedly had to wait around for hours for Delon to be ready. The Leopard was a big hit in France, where it won the Palme D'Or in Cannes and 3.6 mil. paid admission, and in Italy, where it nearly made its budget back by '67 (2.3 Bil. ITL). It was also re-released several times in Italy to success. I count it tentatively as a box office success. Upon release in the US, Newsweek and The New Yorker gave the film ridiculing reviews. It is out in four lengths; the 185 minute version is Visconti's preferred one, - so watch that one.]
What do you think of The Leopard?
Do you agree that it might be the greatest film ever made?
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