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Summary
Sicily, in the 1860s. It is a time of social and political upheaval, with a fragmented
Italy heading towards unification. The ageing Prince Don Fabrizio of Salina
senses that his era is coming to an end, that his aristocratic past will count for little
in this new, vulgar present which sees power shifting towards an emerging Bourgeois class.
Rather than fight the transition, he plays along with it, knowing that this is the only
way he can survive in this new world in which the noble leopard must give way to the common
jackal. He does not oppose the decision of his favoured nephew, Tancredi Falconeri,
to fight in Garibaldi's army and, when Tancredi returns to Sicily a hero, the Prince contrives
to have him marry beneath his rank, to the daughter of a wealthy mayor. At a lavish
ball, Don Fabrizio reflects on his own obsolescence and finally accepts that his time
has passed.
Review
Quite possibly Luchino Visconti greatest work, Il Gattopardo, or The Leopard
, is a film which achieves a level of artistic brilliance which is genuinely rare
in cinema. Not only is the film appealing to the eye – the stunning photography
and incredibly opulent sets making it one of the most beautiful films ever made – but
it also has an intensely human dimension, which makes watching the film a spiritual experience.
Few films deserve the epithet “masterpiece” as much as this magnificent, deeply moving
meditation on the transience of human existence.
It is the fusion of three elements which make The Leopard such a powerful and memorable
work. First, there is the novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa on which the film
is closely based, a great work in its own right. Then there is Visconti’s direction
– confident to the point of arrogance, yet utterly faultless. Here we are some way
from the neo-realist works with which Visconti began his film-making career. The
Leopard is a lavish historical drama, made on a colossal budget, with an impressive
battle scene and the most indulgent ball scene ever filmed. In many ways, the film
is emblematic of the contradictions in Visconti’s own personality and life. He was
born into aristocracy, but gravitated towards Marxism before realising that he could not
live without wealth and grandeur. Indeed, the central character in The Leopard
is, to all intents and purposes, Visconti himself – both men find themselves in a
world which is beneath their dignity, yet both must adapt to changing circumstances or
else face being airbrushed away into obscurity. Perhaps it is this which makes The
Leopard such a great film: it is so clearly an expression of Visconti’s own soul searching
and anxieties about a time with which he was becoming increasingly disillusioned.
The third essential element which makes The Leopard what it is – one of the greatest
films ever made – is paradoxically the thing which very nearly ruined the film and contributed
to its commercial failure. It may have seemed like pure folly at the time to cast
Burt Lancaster in the role of the film’s central character but, seeing the end result,
it is impossible to imagine anyone else in the part. Lancaster, best known for his
tough action roles in Hollywood westerns, brings to the film a humanity and
gravitas which Visconti could not have hoped to find in any other actor. Ironically,
Visconti initially had a very bad working relationship with Lancaster, mainly because
20th Century Fox, who co-financed the film, insisted on him having a big name American
actor in the leading role. In spite of these ructions, and even though he is dubbed
into Italian, Lancaster is superlative as the introspective Prince Don Fabrizio Salina,
arguably the high point in a very respectable acting career.
Although the film belongs to Burt Lancaster, the talent of his co-stars Alain Delon and
Claudia Cardinale – both in the first flush of youth – shines through in nearly every
one of their scenes. Whereas Lancaster symbolises the old order, the exuberant Delon
and Cardinale represent the new age of political compromise, of optimism and egalitarianism.
Each of the three actors leaves a lasting impression and, together, they provide a major
factor in the film’s standing as a work of great significance.
Although now almost universally acknowledged as Visconti’s masterpiece, The Leopard
has been tarnished by its chequered history. Whilst it initially fared quite
well in Europe, even winning the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1963, it was
virtually obliterated in America. The film’s three and a half-hour run time was
deemed excessive by its American distributors, and so it had around forty minutes hacked
out of it, with as much finesse as someone taking a blunt chisel to the Mona Lisa.
Worse, it was transferred to an inferior print – instantly dulling its Technicolor and
Technirama brilliance – and dubbed into American. No wonder the film sank like lead
balloon. Recently, various attempts to restore the film have been made and although
a full recreation of the original film has yet to be achieved, technological advances
have vastly improved the sound and picture quality. At last, we can appreciate
The Leopard in all its glory, savour its sumptuous cinematography, admire Luchino
Visconti’s direction and be totally captivated by Burt Lancaster’s exquisite performance.
The masterpiece lives again.
© James Travers 2003
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