On Netflix, a cheetah with beautiful fur but with small claws (critic)

This adaptation of the masterpiece of Tomasi di Lampedusa shines with its sumptuous costumes and decorations, but struggles to capture the melancholic depth of the novel. A visual feast that sometimes sacrifices the soul of the original work on the altar of contemporary entertainment.

In the golden palaces of 19th century Sicily is played a drama resurrected by Netflix. The cheetahnew adaptation in six episodes of the masterpiece of Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, arrives on our screens with all the pump and the expected splendor of an international superproduction. But behind the flamboyant costumes, the stunning splendid and the superlative decorations, does this series manage to capture the soul of the original novel and can it make people forget Luchino Visconti’s film? Hmmm …

It takes a certain audacity to tackle such a work. The writers Benji Walters and Richard Warlow, as well as director Tom Shankland, dared. As Shonda Rhimes had done with the English Regency in Bridgertonthey therefore decided to reinvent Italian history with a more contemporary look.

Visually, the series is a killing. Sicily of 1860 comes alive in all its splendor: baroque palaces, bronze light, arid landscapes and ogresque meals …. but under this beautiful envelope normally hides a history with deeper issues: the adaptation of an elite in the face of social change; the old against the new one, the morbid withdrawal of an outdated nobility towards worlds extinguish; And a tragic look at history … All of this had been captured with mad sensuality by Visconti. Here, it’s a little less obvious.

At the heart of the story, we find Don Fabrizio, Prince of Salina (embodied by Kim Rossi Stuart). This man observes with melancholy the disintegration of his world. While Garibaldi’s red shirts threaten the established order, his nephew Tancredi (Saul Nanni) understands that to survive, the aristocracy will have to evolve. It’s the famous: “If we want everything to stay as before, everything has to change“.

Unfortunately, where the Fabrizio de Visconti (a magnificent Burt Lancaster) was imbued with stoic dignity and melancholy wisdom, that of Rossi Stuart oscillates between brutality and vulnerability without really finding his coherence. He has the favorites, but not quite the nobility. This modern “cheetah” seems to have lost the subtle ambiguity that was the strength of the original character. The series (very 3.0) tries to expand its words by giving more importance to the female characters. Concetta (Benedetta Porcaroli), daughter of the prince, gains in the presence and complexity compared to the film by Visconti. His rivalry with the dazzling Angelica (Deva Cassel) for Tancredi’s affection is one of the main narrative axes. Perfect. But not enough.

Because modernization is accompanied here with a certain standardization. We see the algo Netflix transform “Le Guépard” into “Bridgerton” Sicilian. The characters, despite the Italian cast, often seem more anchored in our time than in the one they are supposed to live. Their language, their attitudes betray a contemporaneity which regularly breaks the historical illusion. Stuck between his desire to respect the original verism and the more pop horizons of the successful series, this cheetah dares never at the bottom out of its spleenatic claws …

But what really lacks is what Visconti had so masterfully captured: the twilight atmosphere, deep meditation on death and the tragic of life. Where the film made us feel the dust of a dereliction world, the series offers a brilliant varnish which reduces the power of the story.

There remains a good lesson to remember: this new version is basically like the new rich people that Don Fabrizio observes with distrust. It has the appearance of nobility, but it lacks this depth which is only acquired over time. Luxurious and attractive, but unable to capture the melancholy of the original masterpiece.