Il gattopardo

In 1860, as efforts to create a united Italy are in full swing, an aging prince (Burt Lancaster) comes to an arrangement with the rising bourgeois liberal forces by having his nephew (Alain Delon) marry the daughter (Claudia Cardinale) of the opportunistic mayor. At a ball, the old and new society come together for a magnificent dance of the dead. With the role of Angelica, Luchino Visconti gave Claudia Cardinale “the most beautiful gift of my life”. (CC) “With the waltz from IL GATTOPARDO, she became part of film history: enveloped in the sparkling white, now-legendary ballgown made of tulle and organza, the young Claudia Cardinale dances with the aging Prince of Salina as Angelica, a representative of the new bourgeois class that is triumphing over the dying, morbid bodies of the aristocratic women. In her impetuous corporeality, she is stylized into a shimmering angel of death by Visconti.” (Marisa Buovolo) (hjf)