The Leopard

Il gattopardo

The sumptuous, tumultuous tale of Italy’s Risorgimento, and an aristocracy crumbling in the face of modernity.

  • Director

    Luchino Visconti

  • With

    Burt Lancaster, Claudia Cardinale, Alain Delon, Serge Reggiani

  • Italy-France 1963. 183min

  • Digital 4K

  • Certificate

    PG

  • English subtitles

Bringing visual decadence and Marxist sensibilities to Tomasi di Lampedusa’s historical novel, Visconti captures the fall of the Italian aristocracy with humanity, nuance and mesmerising camerawork. The personal and the political meet, with Lancaster’s turn as the melancholic patriarch perfectly complimented by a cocksure Delon, as they dance in the ruins of an old order overturned.

Ruby McGuigan

‘The Leopard’ BFI Film Classic by David Weir will be published on 4 April and is available in BFI Shop.