1 00:00:05,120 --> 00:00:07,760 The Leopard 2 00:00:07,760 --> 00:00:12,031 Chapter 1 The prince and the changing Sicily. 3 00:00:12,031 --> 00:00:15,480 Every morning begins the same way: 4 00:00:15,480 --> 00:00:21,400 the sound of prayers, the smell of wax and flowers in the home chapel. My sisters 5 00:00:21,400 --> 00:00:27,160 recite the rosary with devotion, while I, sitting in my seat, think of something else. 6 00:00:27,160 --> 00:00:34,280 Outside the Sicilian sun burns the earth as always, but something is different in the air. My 7 00:00:34,280 --> 00:00:41,200 land, so slow to change, now seems to be rushing towards something I don't know. 8 00:00:41,200 --> 00:00:48,200 The news comes from Palermo, from Naples, from overseas. Garibaldi landed in Sicily. The 9 00:00:48,200 --> 00:00:55,680 monarchy is faltering, and with it our lives. The servants whisper, the nobles pretend to 10 00:00:55,680 --> 00:01:01,240 be calm and in control of the situation, even if they are clearly worried. 11 00:01:01,240 --> 00:01:06,200 But I feel it: the world as we know it is ending. 12 00:01:06,200 --> 00:01:11,720 Tancredi, my nephew, looks at me with eyes full of fire. He wants to leave and join those 13 00:01:11,720 --> 00:01:19,800 liberators. He says it's right, that it's the future. I smile, but inside I feel a cold bite. 14 00:01:19,800 --> 00:01:26,000 He's young, yes, but not stupid. He understood before me that power is shifting. 15 00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:34,520 And I, Prince Fabrizio of Salina, man of stars and silences, remain still while everything changes. 16 00:01:34,520 --> 00:01:41,120 That night, looking at the sky, I saw a star fall. An omen, perhaps. 17 00:01:41,120 --> 00:01:48,320 Or maybe just the beginning of the end. But I didn't know it yet. Not entirely. 18 00:01:48,320 --> 00:01:53,160 Chapter 2 Don Fabrizio and the passing of time. 19 00:01:53,160 --> 00:01:57,840 Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night without knowing why. I walk slowly through 20 00:01:57,840 --> 00:02:03,760 the dark corridors of the villa, I listen to my footsteps on the marble and I think about time. 21 00:02:03,760 --> 00:02:10,480 Time is a silent animal: it walks alongside you and then, without warning, passes you. 22 00:02:10,480 --> 00:02:14,480 I see my youth as if in a foggy mirror: 23 00:02:14,480 --> 00:02:20,320 the hunts with friends, the travels, the studies. Everything seems so far away. 24 00:02:20,320 --> 00:02:27,480 Now every gesture is slow, every thought heavy. My family still looks at me with respect, 25 00:02:27,480 --> 00:02:33,120 but I feel like they no longer understand who I am. Maybe I don't know either. 26 00:02:33,120 --> 00:02:38,680 I live among rituals and habits that never change: lunch at 2:00, 27 00:02:38,680 --> 00:02:45,360 the walk in the garden, the evenings in the living room while my wife embroiders in silence. 28 00:02:45,360 --> 00:02:52,560 But outside the world is racing. Cities explode. People want to vote, scream, fight. 29 00:02:52,560 --> 00:02:58,920 And we, the nobles, remain closed in our palaces counting the shadows. 30 00:02:58,920 --> 00:03:03,840 Sometimes I wonder if all this order serves any purpose, if it isn't 31 00:03:03,840 --> 00:03:10,400 just an elegant way to hide fear. And while the island awakens, I continue to 32 00:03:10,400 --> 00:03:18,520 observe like a tired lion who smells, in the dust, the scent of the approaching enemy. 33 00:03:18,520 --> 00:03:23,440 Chapter 3 Tancredi is the new generation. 34 00:03:23,440 --> 00:03:29,560 Tancredi is like the wind: you don't stop him, you don't follow him. You watch him go by and hope he comes back. 35 00:03:29,560 --> 00:03:32,720 When he told me he wanted to join Garibaldi, 36 00:03:32,720 --> 00:03:39,480 I smiled. Not out of joy, but out of respect. He knows where the world is going. I, on the other hand, 37 00:03:39,480 --> 00:03:43,320 am letting it go. “Uncle, if we don't change, 38 00:03:43,320 --> 00:03:48,720 they'll erase us,” he told me, with those bright eyes and that confident voice. 39 00:03:48,720 --> 00:03:55,000 He spoke of homeland, freedom, future. I only saw dust and disorder. 40 00:03:55,000 --> 00:04:01,880 But I remained silent, because ultimately he is right: everything must change to remain as it is. 41 00:04:01,880 --> 00:04:06,280 It's our only hope. Tancredi brings with him something 42 00:04:06,280 --> 00:04:12,960 that I have lost: the will to live. He laughs, jokes, falls in love easily. 43 00:04:12,960 --> 00:04:18,520 Women love it, men follow it. He is the son of a new world, 44 00:04:18,520 --> 00:04:22,600 born on the ruins of ours. When he left with the 45 00:04:22,600 --> 00:04:30,400 crooked uniform and the stage sword, I hugged him. I smelled tobacco and youth. 46 00:04:30,400 --> 00:04:37,160 And I was scared. Not for him. For me. For what it represents. 47 00:04:37,160 --> 00:04:40,680 Now I sit in my study, looking at his portrait. 48 00:04:40,680 --> 00:04:49,200 The silence is profound, and the future - his future - gallops away from me, without turning. 49 00:04:49,920 --> 00:04:54,200 Chapter 4 The meeting with Angelica. 50 00:04:54,200 --> 00:04:58,480 When Angelica entered the room, time stopped. 51 00:04:58,480 --> 00:05:03,640 Her beauty wasn't just in her features: it was in her gestures, in her confident gaze, 52 00:05:03,640 --> 00:05:09,040 in the silence she carried with her. Even I, a tired old prince, 53 00:05:09,040 --> 00:05:15,160 felt a shiver, as if something powerful had entered our lives. 54 00:05:15,160 --> 00:05:19,080 Tancredi saw it and forgot everything: wars, 55 00:05:19,080 --> 00:05:27,080 ideals, future. She was there, in front of him, and one look was enough to know that she would be his. 56 00:05:27,080 --> 00:05:33,920 I didn't tell him, but I knew right away. And even though she is the daughter of Don Calogero Sedara, 57 00:05:33,920 --> 00:05:40,760 a crude and rich man, I remained silent. Because Angelica is not like him. 58 00:05:40,760 --> 00:05:47,000 It's fire under the ice. The nobility huddled in their worn silks 59 00:05:47,000 --> 00:05:53,280 trying to ignore her, but she shone too brightly. It represented what is coming: 60 00:05:53,280 --> 00:05:58,440 an elegant, hungry bourgeoisie, ready to conquer everything. 61 00:05:58,440 --> 00:06:04,960 I watched them talk, laugh, barely touch each other. And I felt a pang inside. 62 00:06:04,960 --> 00:06:08,360 Not of jealousy. Of nostalgia. 63 00:06:08,360 --> 00:06:14,160 Angelica is the future disguised as a dream. And I, who know dreams and their traps, 64 00:06:14,160 --> 00:06:21,040 immediately understood that nothing will ever be the same again. That evening I raised my glass and toasted, 65 00:06:21,040 --> 00:06:25,840 without telling anyone that our world was dying. 66 00:06:25,840 --> 00:06:31,600 Chapter 5 The ball and the decline of the aristocracy. 67 00:06:31,600 --> 00:06:38,720 The hall was full of lights, laughter and perfumes. The fans moved like butterfly wings. 68 00:06:38,720 --> 00:06:44,080 The violins played endless waltzes. Palermo wanted to forget the war, 69 00:06:44,080 --> 00:06:48,480 the tensions, the confusing news arriving from the continent. 70 00:06:48,480 --> 00:06:52,120 But I don't forget. I observe. 71 00:06:52,120 --> 00:06:59,560 Everyone was there: nobles dressed in gold, bourgeois in search of glory, officers in shiny uniforms. 72 00:06:59,560 --> 00:07:05,200 Angelica dominated the room. In his every step there was grace and achievement. 73 00:07:05,200 --> 00:07:10,920 Tancredi smiled at her, proud. It was his night, their victory. 74 00:07:10,920 --> 00:07:16,560 I sat on the sidelines, like an exiled king. The ladies greeted me, the young men 75 00:07:16,560 --> 00:07:21,760 came to kiss my hand. But it was courtesy, not respect. 76 00:07:21,760 --> 00:07:28,640 I could hear it in the voices, in the too quick gestures, in the glances that passed by. 77 00:07:28,640 --> 00:07:35,360 Walking among the mirrors and chandeliers, I saw again everything we have been — and everything 78 00:07:35,360 --> 00:07:39,440 we will no longer be. The walls laughed at us, 79 00:07:39,440 --> 00:07:45,520 at our titles, at our medals. At one point I asked for a glass 80 00:07:45,520 --> 00:07:51,880 of water. Only water, because the wine that evening would have burned too much. 81 00:07:51,880 --> 00:07:58,200 Then I saw it: my reflection. Tired, grey, out of time. 82 00:07:58,200 --> 00:08:04,840 And I realized that I was no longer a prince. And maybe I never really was. 83 00:08:04,840 --> 00:08:09,160 Chapter 6 Marriage and the new reality. 84 00:08:09,880 --> 00:08:15,720 Tancredi and Angelica's wedding day was splendid. Yet bitter. 85 00:08:15,720 --> 00:08:19,680 The sky was clear, the flowers were fresh, the clothes were bright. 86 00:08:19,680 --> 00:08:25,800 People applauded, bells rang. Everything was as it should be. 87 00:08:25,800 --> 00:08:29,760 Yet, inside me, something was breaking. 88 00:08:29,760 --> 00:08:36,240 Tancredi was radiant, Angelica, in an ivory dress, looked like a queen. 89 00:08:36,240 --> 00:08:42,000 But I knew that it wasn't just a union of love: it was an alliance between the 90 00:08:42,000 --> 00:08:49,440 old blood of the Salinas and the new money of the Sedaras. A necessary compromise. An elegant rendering. 91 00:08:49,440 --> 00:08:54,240 Don Calogero, the bride's father, smiled too much. 92 00:08:54,240 --> 00:08:58,120 He looked at each guest as if he were counting coins. 93 00:08:58,120 --> 00:09:03,160 Every word he said was out of place, but no one dared to correct him. 94 00:09:03,160 --> 00:09:08,920 Now he too was part of our world. Or at least that's what he thought. 95 00:09:08,920 --> 00:09:14,240 During the ceremony, I watched Tancredi's hands shake Angelica's. 96 00:09:14,240 --> 00:09:17,400 Young, safe. Mine, hidden 97 00:09:17,400 --> 00:09:22,480 behind my back, trembled slightly. Because what I saw was the future. 98 00:09:22,480 --> 00:09:27,680 And I didn't belong there. At the table, between toasts and laughter, 99 00:09:27,680 --> 00:09:33,760 I raised my glass to the new times, I said. Everyone applauded. 100 00:09:33,760 --> 00:09:38,920 But I only thought of one thing: we had opened the door to change, 101 00:09:38,920 --> 00:09:43,800 and change never asks permission to enter. 102 00:09:43,800 --> 00:09:48,560 Chapter 7 Loneliness and the end of the prince. 103 00:09:48,560 --> 00:09:52,720 The house is quieter now. The children are far away. 104 00:09:52,720 --> 00:09:58,400 Tancredi lives in Palermo, Angelica organizes receptions and participates in salons. 105 00:09:58,400 --> 00:10:02,440 I stay here, in the Donnafugata villa, among antique furniture 106 00:10:02,440 --> 00:10:08,440 and habits that no longer serve any purpose. Every morning I walk slowly through the garden. 107 00:10:08,440 --> 00:10:14,000 The trees are the same, but I'm not. The body bends, the mind wanders. 108 00:10:14,000 --> 00:10:19,880 I no longer have desires, only memories. And every now and then a fixed thought: 109 00:10:19,880 --> 00:10:24,680 when will the time come? Politics no longer interests me. 110 00:10:24,680 --> 00:10:30,080 The new rulers talk a lot, they promise everything. But I don't believe it. 111 00:10:30,080 --> 00:10:34,920 Nothing has really changed. Just the faces. The people remain poor. 112 00:10:34,920 --> 00:10:41,560 Sicily remains motionless under the sun. The truth is simple: here everything changes 113 00:10:41,560 --> 00:10:46,400 to never really change. I spend the afternoons watching the 114 00:10:46,400 --> 00:10:53,560 sky turn red like a slow flame. I feel death near, but not with fear. 115 00:10:53,560 --> 00:10:57,600 I look at her as one would look at an old friend arriving. 116 00:10:57,600 --> 00:11:04,000 One evening, as the sun sank behind the hills, I felt a profound relief. 117 00:11:04,000 --> 00:11:09,920 As if everything finally made sense. And for the first time I understood that 118 00:11:09,920 --> 00:11:16,800 we are not masters of our end. But we can at least choose silence. 119 00:11:16,800 --> 00:11:20,920 Chapter 8 Everything must change to stay as it is. 120 00:11:21,560 --> 00:11:26,480 Now that I'm no longer here, maybe someone will still talk about me. 121 00:11:26,480 --> 00:11:31,320 They will say I was an honorable man, a cultured prince, a tired dreamer. 122 00:11:31,320 --> 00:11:37,240 But the truth is another: I just watched time slip through my fingers, 123 00:11:37,240 --> 00:11:41,240 like hot sand in a hand that no longer holds. 124 00:11:41,240 --> 00:11:47,720 After I died, life went on. Tancredi became a deputy, then a senator. 125 00:11:47,720 --> 00:11:53,040 Angelica became a shining figure of the new Sicilian society. 126 00:11:53,040 --> 00:11:59,560 They have children, parties, photographs. They talk about progress, about modernity. 127 00:11:59,560 --> 00:12:03,320 Yet, if you look carefully, everything has remained as it was. 128 00:12:03,320 --> 00:12:08,040 The farmers are still poor. Ancient buildings are falling apart. 129 00:12:08,040 --> 00:12:14,760 The powerful change their names, but not their habits. Sicily allows itself to change on the surface, but 130 00:12:14,760 --> 00:12:23,680 inside it remains the same: proud, wounded, immobile. One day, many years later, one of my daughters 131 00:12:23,680 --> 00:12:28,440 found my old dog, dead, forgotten in a closed room. 132 00:12:28,440 --> 00:12:33,360 No one had looked for him anymore. They buried him in silence, 133 00:12:33,360 --> 00:12:37,640 like a relic of the past. Maybe that really was 134 00:12:37,640 --> 00:12:43,640 the funeral of my world. Now my name is engraved on a cold tombstone. 135 00:12:43,640 --> 00:12:48,200 But if someone asked me what I learned, I would only answer this: 136 00:12:48,200 --> 00:12:51,480 for things to remain as they were, everything must change.