Visually, one of the most opulant, luxurious, colourful, splendiferous, magnificent, delirious, aesthetically grandiose films I've ever seen. I could watch Visonti's camera make love to the Italian countryside for hours. The interiors are not bad either. It tries to be Italy's Gone With The Wind but the story is not quite enough for 3 hours and it drags in the final third. Interesting to see where The Godfather's influences came from. Good performances from Lancaster, Delon but not Cardinale.

Stunningly beautiful. I remember how the scenes looked like but any reminences of a plot is completely gone. Burt Lancaster is impressively convincing as an Italian

Very nuanced storytelling here, but rewarding. One thing I enjoyed was the subtle transition of Delon's character Tancredi from idealistic youth into a man bound by tradition like his uncle -- I have to wonder if this movie influenced The Godfather. Lancaster really won me over on this one -- by all means his character should be unlikable, but I really sympathized with his inevitable obsolescence by the end of the film. Also, old-time Italy is very photogenic and the cinematography is beautiful.

An opulent, grand, and subtle film, but I found it rather stale, to be perfectly honest. Its emotional core didn't quite grab me, and the story itself wasn't one I found particularly involving. If not being enthralled by a three hour costume drama about a fading patriarch during the unification of Italy makes me a child, well then give me a pacifier and a blanket because I think I need a fucking nap.

"The Leopard is more than a tad too pleased by its own spots, but in this case the source material and its director's intentions were almost accidentally an appropriate match." - Eric Henderson

The Leopard is probably the quintessential Risorgimento period drama, both epic and painstakingly detailed, well cast and masterfully directed as can be expected from Visconti. The text, adapted by Suso Cecchi d'Amico from the Lampedusa novel, is intelligent and meaningful, but the story is not quite as emotionally or intellectually powerful as some of the other scripts penned by d'Amico. In fact, it is not even particularly interesting.

Your will be swept away by the landscape, the costumes, the cinematography and the cast - what an amazing cast.. It's status as a classic is manifested by the intriguing variety in characters, who establishes themselves as ambiguous symbols of the historical Italy. A very interesting film, that keeps you interested for it's entire duration(180 min), but I can't help feeling that somehow I want more out of my classics!

It's incredibly boring. It's one of those movies that should win every technical award and then lose everything else (screenplay, acting, directing, etc).

Lancaster is superb. He's always seemed like an aristrocrat striding gracefully among the rabble and he imbues Prince Salinas with poignant resignation. He personalizes the film, his acceptance of death mirroring the socio-political obsolescence his way of life is meeting. For Salinas, nothing ever needed thought or action. It always was. The Leopard is a classic because it is timeless in its depiction of the remorseless march of time. It has the look of paintings stirred to life.

65

DNF

I was sometimes reminded of the Godfather and certainly of 1900. Cinematography, music, acting, all other disciplines were great, but the plot and the story were unbelievably boring.

aka: the fall of the house of falconeri... favorite scenes: tancredi and angelica playing hide and go seek...fabrizio and chevally discussing a possible senatorship....the hour long ball.....the statuelike review of the princes' family at the local mass. favorite line: something had to change on order for everything to remain the same. loved the little details as well as the luxuriant scenes..... highly recommended, not to be missed. note: stick with the italiian language ver

There's ambiguity, and there's skirting the issue. Visconti's sweeping, relatively uninvolved direction is nice but he fails to leave any deep marks, content as he is to simply co-exist with the text, neither affirming nor challenging it to any significant degree. Both impressive and disappointing.

Should have brushed up on my history before watching this one.

Burning with latent tension and power. Claudia Cardinale is so ravishing, I fell in love with her; Sicily is so ravishing, I fell in love with it. The scene where the Prince dances with Angelica, the slow tension and repression is just immense. Brilliant

Prince Don Fabrizzio is such a solemn and yet watchable character (thanks in no small part to Lancaster's performance); by the end, we feel his every emotion, deeply and profoundly. The film is obviously lush and gorgeous at every second, but it's so incredibly dense that it's hard to process at times. Because of its length and density, audience interest will inevitably wane, but when it hits, it hits hard and with immense beauty.

#65

Beautifully shot, but I feel like I'll have to watch the commentary to really get more out of it. A familiarity with Sicilian history is almost certainly a prerequisite.

We were the leopards, the lions, those who take our place will be jackals and sheep, and the whole lot of us - leopards, lions, jackals and sheep - will continue to think ourselves the salt of the earth.

Extraordinary, unique epic with Lancaster in possibly the role of his career as an ageing member of the aristocracy, in mourning for a dying way of life. Visconti's incredible eye for colour and detail are on full display here, at times the visuals are so overwhelming, it is difficult to pay attention to the rich plotting (I think a second viewing will be in order). Long, but not too long, complex but not confusing, an extraordinary achievement on every level. Plus Cardinale at her most sublime.

9 de Juliol 2011 - Retrat històric del final de l'antic règim. Probablement força acurat. Té menys mèrit interpretar una (gran) novel·la que idear un guió? És una interpretació? Una recreació? Una visió subjectiva o una fidel transcripció visual? Ha de repercutir en la meva puntuació la distància temporal, el fet que hagin variat algunes concepcions cinematogràfiques en 50 anys?

# 71

Beautiful camerawork with subtle storytelling. Loved the sets, the costumes, the drapes flowing in the wind. And Burt Lancaster is actually pretty good as the aging patriarch.

It certainly looks good. The cinematography is beautiful, the landscapes are beautiful, and well, Claudia Cardinale is beautiful too! But I must confess this kind of story doesn't turn me on.

I almost feel guilty giving this such a low score. There is a lot to be admired here; the sets, costumes, landscapes, photography, but there somehow really isn't much to sink your teeth into.

An undeniable achievement in movie making. The film's scope and visual grandeur are stunning. It's an epic of great historical proportions, but the personal insight of Fabrizio coming to terms with the end of his way of life lends the movie a great sense of balance. Unfortunately, it's harder for me to connect with the film's emotional sensibilities rather than its technical ones. The subject matter was of no interest to me, and I rarely felt sympathy for Lancaster's character.

# 85

Yo dis movie tight

The costumes and sets are incredible, and the camerawork is very impressive. It's not a boring movie, but its narrative is very nuanced and I didn't find it all that gripping.

Absolute classic. To call it the "Italian _Gone With The Wind_" is actually a demotion for this unique film

Three hour long costume dramas aren't exactly my "thing", but The Leopard won me over. It's absolutely gorgeous. The sets, the costumes, the photography -- all perfect. The character of Don Fabrizio is intriguing, and Lancaster's performance is inspired. The sheer length of the movie necessitates patience, and the subtlety necessitates constant attention to minor details. But ultimately, it's very rewarding.

It's impossible not to be impressed by the sweep and grandeur of this movie. The sets and costumes are jaw-dropping displays of opulence and extravagance, and gorgeously photographed too. The amount of time, thought, planning and money that must have gone into this is staggering. Definitely an A+ for effort. I enjoyed the theme of Don Fabrizio's coming to terms with his own obsolescence, as not only his mortal death looms near, but also the death of his way of life and position in society.

One of the richest, most beautiful films ever made; the costuming and set design is absolutely stunning, and each individual frame is like a painting, bursting with detail. It's a continuous ballet of images. It's also a brilliantly told story, driven by equal parts plot and character, with excellent performances (Lancaster is perfect as the aging Italian prince), and is at once romantic, exciting, brooding, intelligent and tragic.