Luchino Visconti directs "The Leopard." The plot? Burt Lancaster plays Prince Fabrizio of Salina, an aristocratic Sicilian whose wealth, influence and way of life comes crumbling down during il Risorgimento, the social and political movement which led to the unification of Italy's states.
Whilst the once powerful Fabrizio watches as monarchical feudalism dies a slow death, his dashing young nephew, Tancredi Falconeri (Alain Delon), grows from an enlistee in Giuseppe Garibaldi's people's army to a master of modern realpolitik, switching to the cause of Camillio di Cavour, the scheming aristocrat (and eventual prime minister) who succeeded at unification where Garibaldi failed.
Like author Giseuppe Tomasi de Lampedusa, who wrote the book upon which "The Leopard" was based, Visconti was deeply committed to social and economic justice. Both artists were also the sons of aristocrats, and so were privy to the wheelings and dealings of power.
Visconti's unique vantage point thus imbues "The Leopard" with a certain sensitivity. Whilst his previous film, "Rocco and His Brothers", traces a peasant family's disintegration after their move to industrial Milan, "The Leopard" does virtually the same thing, coolly observing as the aristocracy crumbles under modernity. What's interesting is that whilst both films are elegiac tragedies, they don't only mourn the loss of a time and the fading of their respective social classes, but the fact that change is traumatic precisely because people refuse to let themselves change, whilst are paradoxically always willing to ruthlessly do anything to guarantee their future or place within what Visconti calls "the new consensus".
So an interesting tension emerges when watching Visconti's films in sequence. Whether it be the "The Damned", "Senso", "Ludwig", "Death In Venice", "The Leopard", "Conversation Piece", "Rocco and his Brothers" etc, we constantly see Visconti questioning progress, modernity, the rise of the bourgeois classes and nationalism. His characters are always trapped between times, between eras, between worlds, and his stance is always one of uncertainty. The nationalism of "Senso", for example, is portrayed as grand pageant of liberation and unification, whilst in "The Damned" such nationalism leads directly to Naziism. These polarities are found in all of his films, Visconti caught in a kind of tug-of-war between being a Marxist progressive, and his nostalgia for the aristocracy of his youth. His films aren't apologias for the aristocracy, but rather, seem highly sceptical of whether or not what came next has been "good enough", or indeed, any different.
Stylistically the film is gorgeous, Visconti immersing us in the rituals of the aristocracy and treating us to lush visuals, ornate costumes and sets. Like most of Visconti's later films, however, "The Leopard's" narrative is too bound to the format and style of the Victorian novel. Likewise, Visconti's aesthetic is too reliant on the conventions of stage plays, which is no surprise, as the director cut his teeth directing Italian operas and theatre productions.
8/10 – "The Leopard" can't be fully digested in a single viewing. Its rather distant style masks numerous subtleties and its power-plays can initially be very confusing, especially to those unfamiliar with this period of history. The film was a huge influence on the works of Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola. Multiple viewings required.
Whilst the once powerful Fabrizio watches as monarchical feudalism dies a slow death, his dashing young nephew, Tancredi Falconeri (Alain Delon), grows from an enlistee in Giuseppe Garibaldi's people's army to a master of modern realpolitik, switching to the cause of Camillio di Cavour, the scheming aristocrat (and eventual prime minister) who succeeded at unification where Garibaldi failed.
Like author Giseuppe Tomasi de Lampedusa, who wrote the book upon which "The Leopard" was based, Visconti was deeply committed to social and economic justice. Both artists were also the sons of aristocrats, and so were privy to the wheelings and dealings of power.
Visconti's unique vantage point thus imbues "The Leopard" with a certain sensitivity. Whilst his previous film, "Rocco and His Brothers", traces a peasant family's disintegration after their move to industrial Milan, "The Leopard" does virtually the same thing, coolly observing as the aristocracy crumbles under modernity. What's interesting is that whilst both films are elegiac tragedies, they don't only mourn the loss of a time and the fading of their respective social classes, but the fact that change is traumatic precisely because people refuse to let themselves change, whilst are paradoxically always willing to ruthlessly do anything to guarantee their future or place within what Visconti calls "the new consensus".
So an interesting tension emerges when watching Visconti's films in sequence. Whether it be the "The Damned", "Senso", "Ludwig", "Death In Venice", "The Leopard", "Conversation Piece", "Rocco and his Brothers" etc, we constantly see Visconti questioning progress, modernity, the rise of the bourgeois classes and nationalism. His characters are always trapped between times, between eras, between worlds, and his stance is always one of uncertainty. The nationalism of "Senso", for example, is portrayed as grand pageant of liberation and unification, whilst in "The Damned" such nationalism leads directly to Naziism. These polarities are found in all of his films, Visconti caught in a kind of tug-of-war between being a Marxist progressive, and his nostalgia for the aristocracy of his youth. His films aren't apologias for the aristocracy, but rather, seem highly sceptical of whether or not what came next has been "good enough", or indeed, any different.
Stylistically the film is gorgeous, Visconti immersing us in the rituals of the aristocracy and treating us to lush visuals, ornate costumes and sets. Like most of Visconti's later films, however, "The Leopard's" narrative is too bound to the format and style of the Victorian novel. Likewise, Visconti's aesthetic is too reliant on the conventions of stage plays, which is no surprise, as the director cut his teeth directing Italian operas and theatre productions.
8/10 – "The Leopard" can't be fully digested in a single viewing. Its rather distant style masks numerous subtleties and its power-plays can initially be very confusing, especially to those unfamiliar with this period of history. The film was a huge influence on the works of Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola. Multiple viewings required.