The Leopard

Italy 1963, 186 mins
Director: Luchino Visconti
Starring: Burt Lancaster, Claudia Cardinale, Alain Delon, Paolo Stoppa

Synopsis

On the 90th anniversary of Visconti's birth, his sumptuously beautiful epic has been given a marvellous digital restoration with the support of Martin Scorsese and overseen by the director of photography Giuseppe Rotunno.

Prince Salina (Lancaster), a Sicilian landowner, known as The Leopard for his power and prowess, struggles to come to terms with the rapidly changing Italian social structure of the 1860s after 'Il Risorgimento', the unification of Italy.

A gorgeous evocation of a bygone era, the film is stunningly photographed, designed and costumed.

It glitters with superb set pieces, culminating in the miraculous and emotionally devastating 45-minute ballroom sequence, a meditation on mortality and a glorious celebration of a dying age.

Simply a masterpiece.