Feature Film | Drama | Italy/France | Italian | 3h7m
Dir: Luchino Visconti | Scr: Suso Cecchi D'Amico, Pasquale Festa Campanile, Enrico Medioli, Massimo Franciosa, & Luchino Visconti | Novel: Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa | Ph: Giuseppe Rotunno | Prod: Goffredo Lombardo | Mus: Nino Rota | Ed: Mario Serandrei | PD: Mario Garbuglia | Cast: Burt Lancaster, Claudia Cardinale, Alain Delon, Paolo Stoppa, Rina Morelli, Romolo Valli, Mario Girotti, Pierre Clémenti, Lucilla Morlacchi
Visconti’s unabashedly romantic yet decidedly elegiac film gently paints a portrait of an ageing Sicilian nobleman against the backdrop of the final years of Il Risorgimento – a time of great social upheaval that eventually led to the unification of Italy. Through his interactions with family, friends, and neighbours, we witness in a series of elegantly presented episodes his gradual realisation that his time may be coming to an end, as the next generation begins to assert its will. Swooningly scored with masterful mise en scène and fine performances, The Leopard proves an affecting, slow-burn work of deceptively great power.
