Visconti, after the representation of the Risorgimento through extreme erotic passions in the film Senso (1958), in his new film The Leopard (1962), by adapting the novel of the same name by Lampedusa, depicts the period of parliamentary compromises (Trasformismo) in Italian history. In the early 1860s in Sicily, Garibaldi attempts to unite the island with the rest of Italy. The initially neutral Prince Fabrizio Salina, aware of the decline of his class, will then be involved in the case of the marriage and ambitions of Tancredi, his politicized nephew. The issue of the transition to parliamentarism and its contradictions is summed up by the opportunist Tancredi: "if we want things to remain as they are, things will have to change”.

Images courtesy of Park Circus / Walt Disney Studios