Here is a work of a type we rarely see anymore -- a sweeping popular epic, with obvious similarities to Gone with the Wind.

| Sep 11, 2023

The film aches with regret over a crumbling empire, but its feelings are complicated by the wise prince, who recognizes his place on the wrong side of history.

| Dec 11, 2013

A magnificent film, munificently outfitted and splendidly acted by a large cast dominated by Burt Lancaster's standout stint in the title role.

| Feb 23, 2012

The film is a long, rich sigh at the end of the day, one that only Don Fabrizio can hear.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Nov 24, 2011

The Leopard is more than a tad too pleased by its own spots, but in this case the source material and its director's intentions were almost accidentally an appropriate match.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Dec 30, 2010

Two-plus hours of engrossing machinations and opulent scenery point the way to the pièce de résistance: a 45-minute gala scene that the Almighty himself would approve as a luxuriant prelude to the Rapture.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Dec 22, 2010

The film is one of the most sumptuous ever made in Europe.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Sep 1, 2010

Among several masterly setpieces, the long ballroom scene, with its sinuous movement and hundreds of extras, is an imperishable glory.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Aug 27, 2010

A must.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Aug 26, 2010

Is this the most beautiful film ever made?

| Original Score: 5/5 | Feb 9, 2006

Stately, elegiac, ruminative, the film truly does now feel seamlessly all of a piece -- and looks glorious.

| May 5, 2005

Watching it now, a more than 40-year-old evocation of an era now some 150 years in the past, we can still feel his ache from here.

| Feb 10, 2005

One of the greatest motion pictures of all time, as well as one of the most politically profound.

| Jan 13, 2005

One of the greatest of all historical costume epics.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Oct 7, 2004

Lancaster [comes] through majestically, bringing formidable presence and melancholy to the role of a still-virile great man who sees the writing on the wall.

| Original Score: B+ | Sep 16, 2004

The feeling at the end of this masterpiece -- a profound meditation on mortality, really -- is so pitch-perfect and conveys so many complexities at a very simple level that The Leopard has become one of the greatest of all epics.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Sep 10, 2004

The greatest film of its kind made since World War II -- its only rivals are Kubrick's Barry Lyndon and Visconti's own Senso.

Full Review | Aug 10, 2004

The Leopard was written by the only man who could have written it, directed by the only man who could have directed it, and stars the only man who could have played its title character.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Oct 1, 2003

A rich and gorgeous film, crowned with a magnificent, extended ballroom scene.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Jul 8, 2003

Not only Visconti's greatest film but a work that transcends its creator, achieving a sensitivity and intelligence without parallel in his other films.

| May 24, 2003