Il Gattopardo (1963)

Il Gattopardo, 1963
(Cine Blog)
no copyright infringement intended

I had yesterday the unexpected surprise to watch this movie again, after many decades. It was aired on a TV channel, and I came upon it by pure chance.

I was a teenager in 1963, I was in love for Claudia Cardinale, and I was admiring Alain Delon. Thus I followed the two with juvenile enchantment. In the same time I knew one or two things about Visconti. And I discovered in this movie the admirable scenic presence of Burt Lancaster. Also Paolo Stoppa, whom I knew from Casa Ricordi, and not only.

After two or three years I had the chance to read the novel of Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, and I realized the full universe and the full refinement. The universe of both author and hero, Prince Lampedusa, and Prince Salina; and the refinement of their inner universes, of the author and of his hero.

Prince Salina, too lucid to not understand that his world was fading, too aristocrat to not understand that any adaptation to the new world would have been disgracious.

Il Gattopardo, 1963
(video by Adrián Betancort)

(Luchino Visconti)