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.
General
Imprint: |
Bfi Publishing
|
Country of origin: |
United Kingdom |
Series: |
BFI Film Classics |
Release date: |
March 2024 |
Authors: |
David Weir
|
Dimensions: |
190 x 135mm (L x W) |
Pages: |
104 |
ISBN-13: |
978-1-83902-615-7 |
Categories: |
Books
|
LSN: |
1-83902-615-4 |
Barcode: |
9781839026157 |
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