The Leopard (1963)

 Luchino Visconti's "The Leopard"

The 1963 book-to-screen adaptation of Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa's 1958 novel "The Leopard" is perhaps the greatest film that Italian director Luchino Visconti ever directed. This is quite the statement, given the director's illustrious career and his signification as the founder of the Italian neo-realist movement. But it is "The Leopard" that holds this distinction, simply due to its completeness as a piece, its epic quality both in scope and emotion, and its ability to communicate the existential thoughts of its protagonist through its visual style and Visconti's apt hand.

The story is set during the Unification of Italy in the mid 19th century. Burt Lancaster plays Don Fabrizio Corbera, an aging Sicilian prince, who must reconcile with the changing of the socio-political tide. In order for his family name to remain prevalent in the changing landscape, he orchestrates a marriage between his idealist nephew, Tancredi, and the daughter of a wealthy landowner. 

The plot of the story seems rather simple, but what really struck me was the profound depth of its existential musings. Our princely oligarch's coming-to-terms with the dying out of his generational way of life extends beyond its limited context into far more universal sentiments. Every person could identify with the changing landscape of life - socially, politically, or individually. 

While this thematic concept may sound simple enough, it is Visconti's rendering of a fading empire that really communicates these existential themes. Throughout the film, Visconti's vibrant use of color, his scale and scope, and his ability to communicate our prince's internal compromises through the visual landscape all illustrate these themes to their most vibrant extremes. 

Of course, this comes with some metatextuality. As the 1960s ushered in a new era of 'modern' and 'post-modern' filmmaking, the sweeping epics and colorful period films that had come to mark the 'classic' era of cinema were becoming synonymous with a 'old hat'-style of picture. Our prince's melancholic retrospectives on his 'good old days' and the immensity of his prosperity and grandeur could possibly be interpreted through an interpersonal lens via Visconti. Visconti's era was coming to an end, and the New Wave and New Hollywood filmmakers was set to replace it. 

One of the prince's schemes to ride the way of the incoming 'new world' was to compromise. Obviously, he could cling to the opulence for as long as he could, but that would also mean him and his family going down with the ship. Rather, his manipulations and political maneuvering ensured a bypass to this "Magnificent Ambersons"-style fate. The middle class's replacement of the upper class was an inevitable by product of changing time. But, the prince's schemes ushering in a new seat in this emerging power structure ensures his family's continued power.

This notion establishes a political understanding of generation change. Coming off the global upheaval of the second World War, there was an original notion that the entire socio-political structure of human life had changed completely. While this is true, it is also true that the real mechanisms of power in the globe remain in the hands of the ultra-wealthy. The film's observance of this phenomenon perhaps isn't entirely a moot point. 

One of the ways in which Visconti represents this ultra-wealthy framing is through the visual abundance that surrounds its characters. Visconti had once before used this visual representation of sophistication and elegance with his 1954 film "Senso." The colorful fabrics and glistening excess of "The Leopard" render all of the characters' intentions and actions completely understandable. Their bodily forms silhouetted around their lavish environments seem to visually connect them to these abundances, making the characters simply a part of their wealth inextricably. The pursuit to remain in these comforts that surround them become the entire basis of their existence. It simply becomes a mechanism of survival.

This notion comes to head in perhaps one of the most breathtaking scenes and set pieces of the entire film: a 46 minute ballroom party scene. The opulence of the scene is immense. But, what's more immense is the existential beauty of the scene. The lavish abundance and the almost meaningless, wistful engagement of the celebration completely communicates these two, seemingly contradictory points. One, it acts as a final observance of the prince's fading way of life. Two, it perfectly encapsulates the privileged 'gold at the end of the rainbow,' 'raison d'etre' of its characters. It becomes somewhat a sad affair for the viewer. It acts as a commiseration with our protagonist's reconciliation of his fading existence. It's also the bitter observance of that which we cannot cling to - a world we'll never obtain ourselves, kept from us by these spoiled, hypocritical elite. But, their malicious hypocrisy is rendered inevitable and the viewer knows they are who we would be in their place.

With all these notions combined into a single stew of cinematic brilliance, "The Leopard" becomes a visual and emotional monolith of its era. Visconti's stoically consistent adherence to his powerful ability to observe his subjects always allows him to consistently deliver with an engaging and emotional experience that also somehow manages to subtly illustrate the external social and/or political landscape that surrounds its characters. But, it is "The Leopard" that remains the pinnacle of his lifelong quest.