The Leopard
![](/images/backdrops/w1280/myikoqu8Z2gtE7TaBgk9r6fB9MF.jpg)
Luchino Visconti's enduring romantic adventure
As Garibaldi's troops begin the unification of Italy in the 1860s, an aristocratic Sicilian family grudgingly adapts to the sweeping social changes undermining their way of life. Proud but pragmatic Prince Don Fabrizio Salina allows his war hero nephew, Tancredi, to marry Angelica, the beautiful daughter of gauche, bourgeois Don Calogero, in order to maintain the family's accustomed level of comfort and political clout.
Released | 27 Mar 1963 |
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Genres | Drama |
Runtime | 3 hours, 6 minutes |
Countries | France, Italy |
Liked by
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Visconti and his fellow screenwriters … took Lampedusa’s novel and fashioned a whole new work on a grand scale, an epic but of a very unusual type. Time itself is the protagonist of The Leopard: the cosmic scale of time, of centuries and epochs, on which the prince muses; Sicilian time, in which days and nights stretch to infinity; and aristocratic time, in which nothing is ever rushed and everything happens just as it should happen, as it has always happened. The landscapes, the extraordinary settings with their painstakingly selected objects and designs, the costumes, the ceremonies and rituals—it’s all at the service of deepening our sense of time and large-scale change, and the entire picture culminates in an hour-long sequence at a ball in which you can feel, through the eyes of the prince, an entire way of life (one that Visconti himself knew quite well) in the process of fading away. … When I got to see the whole thing, I was astonished by the picture and by Lancaster, who gives all of himself to the role and to the world of the film. Visconti had wanted Laurence Olivier, and he was initially very curt with Lancaster, but the actor won him over and they became lifelong friends. I could go on and on about The Leopard. It’s a film that has become more and more important to me as the years have gone by.
Cast
Crew
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Costume & Make-Up
Robert J. Schiffer
Makeup Artist
Alberto De Rossi
Makeup Artist
Piero Tosi
Costume Design
Giancarlo De Leonardis
Hairstylist
Vera Marzot
Assistant Costume Designer
Maria Angelini
Hairstylist
Amalia Paoletti
Hairstylist
Bice Brichetto
Assistant Costume Designer
Alessandro Gasparinetti
Costume Consultant
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Production
Giorgio Adriani
Production Manager
Goffredo Lombardo
Producer
Pietro Notarianni
Executive Producer
Umberto Sambuco
Production Secretary
Enzo Provenzale
Production Manager
Gaetano Amata
Unit Manager
Roberto Cocco
Unit Manager
Lamberto Pippia
Production Secretary
Bruno Sassaroli
Unit Manager
Gilberto Scarpellini
Unit Manager
Riccardo Caneva
Unit Manager
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Editing
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Lighting