The Leopard (1963)
"Il gattopardo" (original title)

The Prince of Salina, a noble aristocrat of impeccable integrity, tries to preserve his family and class amid the tumultuous social upheavals of 1860's Sicily.

Director:

Luchino Visconti

Writers:

Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa (novel), Suso Cecchi D'Amico (screenplay),

Stars:

Burt Lancaster, Claudia Cardinale, Alain Delon

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 8 wins & 5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Burt Lancaster	...	Prince Don Fabrizio Salina
Claudia Cardinale	...	Angelica Sedara / Bertiana
Alain Delon	...	Tancredi Falconeri
Paolo Stoppa	...	Don Calogero Sedara
Rina Morelli	...	Princess Maria Stella Salina
Romolo Valli	...	Father Pirrone
Terence Hill	...	Count Cavriaghi (as Mario Girotti)
Pierre Clémenti	...	Francesco Paolo
Lucilla Morlacchi	...	Concetta
Giuliano Gemma	...	Garibaldi's General
Ida Galli	...	Carolina
Ottavia Piccolo	...	Caterina
Carlo Valenzano	...	Paolo
Brook Fuller	...	Little Prince
Anna Maria Bottini	...	Mademoiselle Dombreuil, the Governess

Storyline

In the 1860s, a dying aristocracy struggles to maintain itself against a harsh Sicilian landscape. The film traces with a slow and deliberate rhythm the waning of the noble home of Fabrizio Corbero, Prince of Salina (the Leopard) and the corresponding rise to eminence of the enormously wealthy ex-peasant Don Calogero Sedara. The prince himself refuses to take active steps to halt the decline of his personal fortunes or to help build a new Sicily but his nephew Tancredi, Prince of Falconeri swims with the tide and assures his own position by marrying Don Calogero's beautiful daughter Angelica. The climatic scene is the sumptuous forty-minute ball, where Tancredi introduces Angelica to society.

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Plot Keywords:

prince | 1860s | noble | sicily | ball | 

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Taglines:

Luchino Visconti's Enduring Romantic Adventure

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Genres:

Drama | History

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

Italy France

Language:

Italian Latin French

Release Date:

15 July 1963 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Leopard

Filming Locations:

Ariccia, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Box Office

Budget:

ITL 2,900,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£39,102 (UK) (2 May 2003)

Gross:

£112,329 (UK) (9 May 2003)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Titanus, Société Nouvelle Pathé Cinéma, Société Générale de Cinématographie (S.G.C.)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

187 min 151 min (cut) 161 min (cut) 165 min (cut) 195 min 205 min (premiere) 161 min (cut)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Director Luchino Visconti was disappointed that the producers of the film insisted on casting Burt Lancaster in the lead role, because he felt he was not right for the part. This caused tension between the two during the first few weeks of filming. Visconti's harsh treatment toward Lancaster eventually led to the actor publicly confronting him on the set. Visconti was so impressed with the passion and sincerity that Lancaster displayed during his tirade that the two developed a close and amicable relationship for the rest of the filming process.

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Goofs

During one of the long shots of the journey to Donnafugata, a blur crosses the screen near the center, apparently caused by a fly crawling over the lens.

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Quotes

Prince Don Fabrizio Salina: Sleep, my dear Chevalley, eternal sleep, that is what Sicilians want. And they will always resent anyone who tries to awaken them, even to bring them the most wonderful of gifts. And, between ourselves, I doubt very strongly whether this new Kingdom has very many gifts for us in its luggage. All Sicilian expression, even the most violent, is really a wish for death. Our sensuality, wish for oblivion. Our knifings and shootings, a hankering after extinction. Our laziness, our spiced and drugged ...

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Connections

Edited into Histoire(s) du cinéma: La monnaie de l'absolu (1998)

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Soundtracks

"Polka"
Composed by Nino Rota

User Reviews

While I feel distanced by some of the atmosphere, I don't deny it's one of Visconti's most ambitious and gorgeous films

What I found most fascinating, though this would exclude the character of Fabrizio Salina (played dead-on by Burt Lancaster) and the images captured time and time again, is that The Leopard is practically a 180 from Visconti's breakthroughs. Think of Ossessione and La Terra Trema and any film buff will think of neo-realism, the plight of the under-valued, the emerging form of power in the simplest stories, the most heartbreaking images. By the time it came around to the Leopard, Visconti was still making personal movies, but here with the Leopard instead of it being a grainy black and white, full screen film set in the present and detailing the lower classes in their communities, it's a sumptuous widescreen technicolor feat telling the story of aristocracy in 1860 Italy. But, luckily, Visconti doesn't disappoint- this is a rich film, one that I may not have been able to penetrate on the first viewing, and I don't know how many viewings it will take me to do so.

The lead character, a Count (Lancaster), has to face up with the changing times- not only is an end coming to a ruling class that has been more or less on rules for about 2500 years, his nephew Tancredi (played in a wonderful early performance by Alain Deleon) is in love with a fellow Don, Calogero's (Stoppa, genuinely slimy and interesting aristocrat) daughter Angelica (Claudia Cardinale, who makes Catherine Zeta Jones seem like an every-girl in the looks and persona department). A revolution seems on the way, but it is ceased, and meanwhile the Prince sees that things are changing, but as one quotes, "things will stay the same".

The Leopard is many things- philosophical treatise on the nature of the ruling class with all that is to offer when looking down on the 'little people'; classic, novel-type love story with characters not going into the realm of soap; it's a feast for the eyes and the ears- Giusseppe Rotuno and Nino Rota turn in five of their greatest pieces of work respectively (even when a character may be talking and it may not be terribly interesting, looking at the shots that unfold is not deterring in the least). Although the drama that unfolds at times isn't as compelling as in Visconti's neo-realist efforts, and the fact that this is in another country going back nearly a hundred and fifty years (the distance as opposed to recognizability of the family in the fishing village of La Terra Trema), it is a treat to see.

And, indeed, after seeing it on a big screen (a rare occasion, thanks to the Film Forum theater in New York), it perhaps one of the finest widescreen films to come out of Italy in the past fifty years. A masterful sequence is to behold as well- the ballroom sequence, where the tones are instinctively precise. Bottom line, this is (one of) the ultimate aristocrat-turned-Marxist take(s) on 19th century Italy and Sicily. Grade: A