Movie: The Leopard - Il gattopardo (Luchino Visconti, 1963)
Are you a shell of your former self wandering around in disilussionment? Do you feel like the world you thought you knew has passed you by? Are you completely alienated from your contemporaries and peers? Then you might be a protagonist in an Italian 1960's classic, perhaps Fabrizio, the Prince of Salina (Burt Lancaster). His feelings aren't wrong. With Giuseppe Garibaldi gaining ground, a revolution seems imminent, which may be the beginning of the end for the Italian nobility. And so, as the film begins, Fabrizio sets out on a journey across Sicily, attempting to do some wheelings and dealings to save the wealth and position of his family and class. Most of his actions turn out to be fairly inconsequential in the grand scheme of things, and despite Italy being a unified monarchy at the end of the film all the old noblemen still hold high positions. With only their titles and colors of the uniforms changed, they still attend grand balls, while Garibaldi and his men are fighting on the ground for the middle class.
This is very much the kind of film where much of the real excitement happens off-screen. We get a scene of Garibaldi and his redshirts engaged in an epic battle for a Sicilian city, but we spend most ofmi our time with Fabrizio, who is not capable of making much of a difference, partly because he always seems a step behind, partly because it's not clear what difference he could really make. His attempts to preserve the Italian nobility are futile, because the nobility seems to succeed just fine without much intervention being needed. A great example of how the film makes this visible is the scene where the prince and his family arrive in the city of their summer palace and are greeted like kings by the local population, Throughout this procession we see in the background a giant graffiti slogan exclaiming 'Viva Garibaldi'. As much else in the film it's an incredibly cynical reminder of how revolutionary activities can quickly turn into mere symbolism. The film's willingness to push its cynicism to the brink is also evident at the final ball, in particular during the scene where Fabrizio points to a group of young women, noting they are the sad consequence of decades of inbreeding among his class. This is followed by a static shot that frames these women slightly off-center, making their movements a little chaotic and unnatural, while much of their dialogue is drowned out by the music at the ball, making them come off as a bunch of primitves in gala dresses.
It should be clear by now that this is not a film of great narrative propulsion. It's interested in Fabrizio's inner turmoil and in using that as a (often darkly humorous) guide through 1860's Italy to showcase the decadence of its aristocracy. At the same, time it also seems to reflect Visconti's own pessimism. There are quite a number of scenes which play like barely-veiled polemic commentaries on modern Italy. Ultimately, the film's highlight is Tancredi (Alain Delon), Fabrizio's nephew. Delon plays him as one of film's greatest slimeballs, a shameless opportunist who is both contemptous of the idealism of the Garibaldians and oof his uncle's inability to keep up with the times, but plays both sides to reach to the top and marry the beautiful Angelica (Claudia Cardinale). I liked the film quite a bit, but found its grave grandeur sometimes a bit too much, making the more frivolous and lighthearted scenes between Angelica and Tancredi quite a welcome respite. The ball that ends the film is in their honor, but its main focus is on Fabriizio's realisation of the total corruption of his society. It's a rightly famous sequence filled with waltzes, opulent rooms, and impecable dresses, all in the service of highlighting the moral degeneracy of its subjects.
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