Italian Cinema Up Close: Film Reviews of Luchino Visconti's "The Leopard (Il Gattopardo)" and Federico Fellini's "Juliet of the Spirits ( (Giulietta degli spiriti)"

By James V. Ruocco

Back in 1963, Luchino Visconti's "The Leopard (Il Gattopardo)," an epic tale of family, romance and political upheaval, was awarded the Palme d' Or for Best Film at the 1963 Cannes Film Festival.
And rightly, so.

It is beautiful.
It is intelligent.
It is mesmerizing.
It is immersive.
It is a nostalgic souvenir of Italian cinema from a well-remembered but sometimes forgotten era.

Set against the 19th century backdrop of Garibaldi's revolution, this fully-restored Italian-language, 187 minute version retains the filmmaker's original Technicolor palate, music soundtrack and  English subtitles.

A masterpiece of rare proportions, it never once looks like a film that was made 57 years ago. And Visconti, a  man whom international film critics called "the aristocrat of Italian cinema," in spite of his Marxist beliefs and latent homosexuality, has directed it with a flair and flourish that has withstood the testament of time. How ironic is that!

But first, let's backtrack.

Following its debut at Cannes, "The Leopard (Il Gattopardo)" went on to European acclaim. But when 20th Century Fox distributed Visconti's film in the United States, it was butchered to 161 minutes and dubbed in English using mostly one-note vocal performances that weakened the story and its dramatic intensity. Visconti was furious. But he could do nothing.

Despite the presence of its enigmatic stars - Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon and Claudia Cardinale - audience and critical response was mixed, and the film drifted into relative obscurity.

Visconti's direction of the original, uncut film, which is the subject of this review, is affecting, intense and objective. He presents lots of facts and truths about Sicily's war, its armed resistance, uprisings and classic politics, but this exciting adaptation of Giuseppe di Lampedusa's novel is never preachy. It remains faithful to its source material and gloriously emerges as a Technicolor pageant of life, revolution, romance, music, paintings and the rich bourgeoisie.
The filmmaker's use of a widescreen format heightens the film's grandeur, romanticism and emotional sweep throughout, embracing the story's concepts and conceits, its varying moods and ideas and its tremendous sense of immediacy. Watching it, one is completely awestruck at the detail and scope of Visconti's cinematic compositions. The words "suitable for framing" come to mind quite often.

"The Leopard (Il Gattopardo)" concludes with a 45-minute grand ballroom sequence, which Visconti uses to portray the dying age of the Sicilian aristocracy. Here, the older, noble Sicilians contemplate their uncertain futures while the younger family members dance merrily about with their dashing suitors, totally oblivious to the changes taking place around them. To date, a sequence as magnificent as this has yet to be equaled on film. It was shot in 14 different rooms at a Palermo estate in Sicily.

The performances - mainly those by Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon and Claudia Cardinale -  are meticulously crafted and recreated with a steadied sense of continuity, passion and refreshing attention to detail. With Visconti at the helm, all three are in sync with the depth and purpose the story has to tell, offering vivid, important characterizations that resonate, transfix and play to the
story's strengths, undercurrents, surprises, traditions, politics and ideas.

For serious moviegoers and fans of great Italian cinema, "The Leopard (Il Gattopardo)" is a must-see film. To fully appreciate Visconti's work, the film must be viewed in its original Italian language. Some, of course, may find it odd that Burt Lancaster's voice is no longer his own. But when you think about it, why would the Prince of Salina speak with an American accent?

"The Leopard (Il Gattopardo)" (1963) stars Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon, Claudia Cardinale, Terrence Hill and Ottavia Piccolo. Directed by Luchino Visconti. Written by Pasquale Festa Campanile, Enrico Medioli, Massimo Franciosa, Luchino Visconti and Suso Cecchi d' Amico. Running time: 195 minutes.

A head trip of sorts, framed and directed by the master himself - Federico Fellini - "Juliet of the Spirits (Giulietta degli spiriti)" conjures up the signature carnivalesque atmosphere associated with the many films of this celebrated Italian filmmaker.

First released in 1965, it is an intoxicating, lavishly detailed motion picture that allows Fellini to embark on a wild, psychedelic odyssey that is rich in spiritual delirium, crazed observations, outrageous visions, cartoonish abandonment and kinky sexual promiscuity with no limitations.

It is decadent.
It is exhilarating.
It is elaborate.
It is mad.
It its ritualistic.
It is also fucked-up.

Reportedly, Fellini experimented with LSD (that would explain a lot) prior to shooting "Juliet of the Spirits (Giulietta degli spiriti),"  his perpetually wicked, intriguing comedy about a sad-eyed married woman who forsakes reality and summons spirits to act out her sexual fantasies, dreams and insecurities.

Arriving two years after "8 1/2," this was Fellini's first film shot in Technicolor. It was also a birthday present for his wife Giulietta Masina, who plays the film's perplexed heroine. The actress also starred in many of her husband's other cinematic projects including "The White Sheik," "La Strada," "Variety Lights," "Il Bidone" and "Nights of Cabiria."

Here, she is in her element playing the title character, an Italian, upper-class housewife, prone to supernatural feelings and latent sexual desires once she discovers her husband is cheating on her. A wonderful, imaginative and expressive actress, Masina inhabits Juliet's house-proud, bourgeois, sexually curious persona with refreshing determination, vision and insight. So whenever she's on camera, she commands your attention. Then again, that's the point, isn't it?

While the film purports to wryly expose Giulietta's fantasies, what really unfolds is the filmmaker's  own idiosyncrasies about philandering husbands, life-sentencing marriages, sexual dalliances, seaside escapes, buxom women, boy toys, erotic impulses, self-indulgence and insanity.

Using his catchy, signature, spirited circus music, gliding cameras, pastels and vibrant colors, "Juliet of the Spirits (Giulietta degli spiriti)" wisely taps the Fellini fount of psychedelia, but often distances itself from the autobiographical "La Dolce Vita" and "8 1/2." In the end, it's all pretty crazy and outrageous stuff, which back then must have seemed even crazier. Nonetheless, it's impossible to take your eyes off the garish processions, parades, harems and strip shows that plunge you straight into Fellini's subconscious. It's an experience of the highest order and one you're likely not to forget for quite some time.

"Juliet of the Spirits (Giulietta degli spiriti)" (1965) stars Giulietta Masina, Sandra Milo, Mario Pisu, Valentina Cortese, Sylva Koscina and Caterina Boratto. Directed by Federico Fellini. Written by Federico Fellini, Tullio Pinelli, Ennio Flaiano and Brunello Rondi. Running time: 144 minutes.