Visconti was widely praised for both the realism and vaguely politicized tone of his early films, and the operatic sumptuousness of his later historical costume dramas
Throughout his career, however, style dominated content; all too often, the result was a decorative melodrama disguised as solemn, socially significant art
Adapted from an internationally popular novel by Giuseppe Tomassi di Lampedusa, it was termed a masterpiece by some and a bore by others Certainly, it was deliberately paced, with minute attention given to period detail
A prime example is Visconti's climactic and grandiose ballroom sequence, which seems to fill one-third of the film But the director presented the charm and manners of a bygone era so masterfully "The Leopard" saw a return to a long, lushly historical drama, observing an aristocratic family's reluctant but inevitable acquiescence to a son's romance with a middle-class girl, set against the backdrop of Garibaldi's unification of Italy
Adapted from an internationally popular novel by Giuseppe Tomassi di Lampedusa, it was termed a masterpiece by some and a bore by others Certainly, it was deliberately paced, with minute attention given to period detail
A prime example is Visconti's climactic and grandiose ballroom sequence, which seems to fill one-third of the film But the director presented the charm and manners of a bygone era so masterfully "The Leopard" saw a return to a long, lushly historical drama, observing an aristocratic family's reluctant but inevitable acquiescence to a son's romance with a middle-class girl, set against the backdrop of Garibaldi's unification of Italy