i can not quite explain why i find this so alluring and the leopard not while it may be because the focus here be on all that be great with that film and those intimate moment that visconti can render so magnificently . like that film and it have a majestically slow pace and but this time it isn not overlong . it the kind of film where nothing happen but twenty minute pass like that . i think that must be due in part to the way the film deal with flashback that act a their own mini story . like the leopard and it have a sympathetic lead who bring out the same kind of worn pathos though bogard performance be more willing to open itself to be unlikable and especially in look represent he have a really stupid grin that easy to dislike . it often quite beautiful in the quiet moment . it the opulence of visconti film and the grandeur of the ball scene and that i find tedious and a they exchange individual clarity with mass precision . but here and that be part of the point gustav surround by a visual din . the way in which the object of gustav affection be introduce to u be quite brilliant the camera show a girl and girl and girl and then this beautiful and feminine feature boy . it like an allusion to shakespeare sonnet and and it doesn not feel heavy hand . ( it not until the camera view tadzio fully and pull back and we see his long and slender leg and that we realize he be not a boy and but an adolescent at first be force to question gustav attraction in an uncomfortable way while visconti must have know that and and he doesn not shy away from it . ) visconti be extremely patient with gustav while we get a sense of the man and we know him . it a largely silent performance and and when he do open his mouth it to spew venom while no wonder he want the angelic and open feature boy to project himself onto . there a difference with tadzio ( we never know him and just a we never know a handful of fellini grotesque while but that because his life be another and it own film ) and but it not as flirtatious a it be make to seem ( there be one scene and however and where he twirl around a pole that too much ) . tadzio isn not necessarily lead him on he look at him while visconti just zoom in be all . the film doesn not detail gustav a be gay tadzio isn not even really male and he a prettified version of a boy ( delicate and pale and wispy and with golden lock ) that everyone seem to love ( include one gorgeous and slightly old young man who he wrestle with ) . the close they go to show what could be understand a a reference to gustav homosexuality be the famous barber scene and which unlock his repressed vanity . it isn not totally successful the whole section with alfred be a waste and and some unnecessary scene and people carry bag in long shot and could have be excise . some part be heavy hand and such a when gustav boat pull in and rowdy boy pass him by the look on his face be too obvious . ( but during the same scene gustav throw a fit and want a new rower and something so unexplainable that it make up for it . ) but there be some scene touch for the first time that build up a remarkable and quiet intensity . tadzio repeat a piano song again and again and the note quiver in the air and may be the best example of the anxiety the film have . there be one discussion that contain a debate i be especially interested represent can art be spiritual if it satisfy the sens and or do it have to go beyond them . ( we can consider tarkovsky and who esteem both visconti and mann and to be the prime example of someone go beyond mere sensory sensation . ) i think this one manage to do both . positive .