The Leopard

Il Gattopardo

David Weir

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English

BFI Publishing
02 May 2024

Film theory & criticism; Film movie guides & reviews

Series: BFI Film Classics

Luchino Visconti's The Leopard (Il Gattopardo, 1963) tells the story of an aristocratic Sicilian family adjusting to the realities of political and commercial modernity after the unification Italy during the Risorgimento.

The film, starring Claudia Cardinale, Burt Lancaster and Alain Delon, met with success upon its initial release, winning the Palme d’Or at Cannes and having a successful theatrical run in Europe. Despite this, however, it did not do well with English-speaking audiences, and eventually even fell out of favour with Italian audiences, who took issue with the way Risorgimento history was represented.

David Weir's study of the film seeks to understand the film's paradoxical place in Italian film history. He argues that Visconti's use of artifice, narrative and history, all aspects that came to be criticised, were in fact, essential to his cinematic art, and can all be understood as strengths of the film. Providing a scene-by-scene analysis of the film, as well as illuminating its relationship to the Lampedusa novel from which it was adapted, Weir suggests that Visconti's film goes beyond mere adaptation, using the form of the novel for cinematic purposes and making The Leopard a cinematic novel in its own right.

He goes on to situate the film within Visconti's career, questioning whether the uneven reception of the film reflects the paradox of Visconti's social status as a Marxist aristocrat and his position as an auteur director whose films borrowed heavily from the decadent tradition, while at the same time professing allegiance to the Italian Communist Party.

By: David Weir
Imprint: BFI Publishing
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 190mm, Width: 135mm, Spine: 25mm
Weight: 454g
ISBN: 9781839026157
ISBN 10: 1839026154
Series: BFI Film Classics
Pages: 120
Publication Date: 02 May 2024
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Historical Background 2. Summary and Analysis of The Leopard 3. Reception, Legacy, and Influence Conclusion Notes Credits

David Weir is Emeritus Professor of Comparative Literature at the Cooper Union, New York, USA. He is the author of books including Decadence and Literature (edited with Jane Desmarais, 2019); Decadence: A Very Short Introduction, (2018), and “Ulysses” Explained: How Homer, Dante, and Shakespeare Inform Joyce’s Modernist Vision (2015), as well as a study of Trouble in Paradise (2021), also in the BFI Film Classics series.