There is a moment in Visconte’s The Leopard when the Prince, played by Burt Lancaster, is throwing a grand ball. A young noblewoman believes that she has a chance to win the heart of the Prince’s nephew, played by Alain Delon.
Yet in one moment this all changes. Another woman walks into the room, played by the astonishingly beautiful Claudia Cardinale. Delon and Cardinale lock eyes. In that one moment, the young noblewoman knows that it is all over.
For me, that is the most powerful moment in a very powerful movie. Not just Delon and Cardinale, but the look on the other young woman’s face, as Visconte cuts to her reaction.
It is a look that says “For me there will be no justice, there will be no hope. There can be no argument in the face of such impossible beauty.”
I thought of this moment when I read this morning of the sad passing of the great Alain Delon. There can be no argument in the face of such impossible beauty.