Il Gattopardo
There are a few moments in life when I outright forget that I am not at home. In fact, this happened to me two times: The first time was when I was watching “The Housemaid” and heard footsteps. For one second, I tried to find out if it were my mother’s or my father’s footsteps as I usually can immediately recognize the sound. When I realized that it was neither of them, I also understood that I’m actually not at home at all. The second time was when I was looking up Wikipedia articles and the rest of the internet for reviews and commentaries on this film. I thought I was in Paris, and this time I don’t even know why.
This is the very last film of my list that started it all. After I don’t know how much time (I think it should be four years) I finally managed to see every single one of them. And what an epic finish it was! I was right when I assumed that this is not exactly my type of film, but I do agree that this film is much much more than just some history drama (usually I don’t like this genre all that much). In fact, there is incredibly much to it: There are enticing characters (especially the old Prince), great visuals and cinematography, love scenes and most of all, a complex and dramatic story. It made me think of War and Peace a lot (the book, mind you, not the sappy piece that is the movie), where you also have a lot of characters and a family of the nobility on the verge of decadence and break-up that has to go through the change of time. “Il Gattopardo” turned out to be much deeper than I thought, and its characters, especially considering how subtle the relationships between them are shown, are quite multi-faceted. I admire how Visconti (and of course also the novel the film is based upon) managed to contour the pitfalls of soap operas and present a story like this with so much intelligence.
Burt Lancaster has quite a great role here, the Prince is easily my favorite character and I just love his humoristic and sophisticated way of speaking. Whoever thinks that an American cannot play an Italian Prince should be proven wrong here. All the great quotes of the film come from the Prince, and I especially like the most popular quote “If we want things to stay as they are, things have to change.” But I must admit that Alain Delon garnered my attention quite a lot as well. He’s plays this amazingly attractive character here (despite being given the slightly ridiculous name Tancredi) and I wonder if you can not be drawn to those beautiful eyes. They make me think of Gael García Bernal somehow, although I prefer the latter. It’s too bad Alain Delon is a supporter of Le Pen in real life, ugh.
I am glad that I have finished the list and I am especially pleased by the fact that I ended it with such a great and epic title. I am wondering which list I should aim at completing next, hehe. Or perhaps I should see what else Visconti has done. In the meantime, please donate one of those Italian dresses to me?