(1963) “If we want everything to stay the same, everything
must change.” Sicily, 1860: as a light breeze
disturbs the curtains, an aristocrat leads his family in prayer in a stately
palazzo — then a dead soldier is found
in the garden. Garibaldi and the Risorgimento have come. Burt Lancaster as the
Prince of Salina reluctantly sees
his beloved nephew Alain Delon off to join the rebels at the Battle of Palermo,
then makes his peace with the
Revolution, marrying Delon to daughter-of-the-people Claudia Cardinale. Visconti’s
spectacular adaptation of
Giuseppe di Lampedusa’s international bestseller is one of the cinema’s
greatest evocations of the past,
achingly depicting the passing of an ancient order, with a final stinging sense
of an idealistic cause betrayed. (A
passing the creators felt deeply: the novelist was Prince of Lampedusa and based
his hero on his greatgrandfather;
lifelong Marxist Visconti was also the Duke of Modrone.) The climactic 45-minute
ball sequence is
a tour-de-force (“A set piece that has rarely been equaled” – Derek
Malcolm; “One of the most moving
meditations on individual mortality in the history of the cinema” – Dave
Kehr), its highlight the
Lancaster/Cardinale dance to a previously unknown Verdi waltz. Cut and dubbed
in its original U.S. release, a
1980 restoration was supervised by cameraman Giuseppe Rotunno, and became a renewed
hit around the world. But those prints had become unwatchable. This restoration
of the
complete, uncut Italian version showcases The Leopard’s visual splendor
better than
ever. “This sumptuous historical drama has an artistry only comprehensible
in the
uncut Italian version. An extraordinary combination of romantic sweep and obsessive
detail.” – J. Hoberman, Village Voice.
A CRITERION PICTURES RELEASE OF
A 20TH CENTURY FOX FILM
Approx. 180 min.
Links:
For sale at Amazon:
THE LEOPARD |
