Il Gattopardo

(The Leopard)

plays with The Leopard

(Italy, 1963, 187 mins, 35mm)

Executive Producer: Pietro Notarianni
Producer: Goffredo Lombardo
Screenwriters: Suso Cecchi d'Amico & Pasquale Festa Campanile and Enrico Medioli & Massimo Franciosa and Luchina Visconti
Cinematographer: Giuseppe Rotunno
Editor: Mario Serandrei
Cast: Burt Lancaster, Claudia Cardinale, Alain Delon
Music: Nino Rota

Aging Sicilian Prince Don Fabrizio Salina (Burt Lancaster) views the waning fortunes of his aristocratic line and culture with a melancholic yet stoic detachment as the middle classes rise to form a unified Italy in the 1860s. Seeing his ambitious and savvy nephew, Tancredi Falconeri (Alain Delon), as the family's hope to continue the prestige of their family line in spite of these changing times, Don Fabrizio encourages the marriage of Tancredi to the beautiful daughter (Claudia Cardinale) of a wealthy former peasant (Paola Stoppa).

The classic novel by Prince Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa sets the tone and provides the tale for this Luchino Visconti masterpiece that exemplifies the theme that is the hallmark of his work—grand passions played out in the world of the European aristocracy. With Academy Award-nominated costumes, sweeping cinematography of the Sicilian countryside by Giuseppe Rotunno, and an elaborate 45-minute ballroom set-piece that reflects the studied social exposition of the entire film, it’s not hard to see why the Cannes Film Festival fittingly awarded Il Gattopardo the Palme d’Or in 1963.

Restored in association with Cineteca di Bologna, L’Immagine Ritrovata, The Film Foundation, Pathé, Fondation Jérôme Seydoux-Pathé, Twentieth Century Fox and Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia-Cineteca Nazionale. Restoration funding provided by GUCCI and The Film Foundation.

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