Spoilers · the ending
The Leopard: the ending, explained
Luchino Visconti · 1963
This page gives the ending away. Not seen the film yet? Its spoiler-free guide is here.
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Spoilers · the ending
Luchino Visconti · 1963
This page gives the ending away. Not seen the film yet? Its spoiler-free guide is here.
What happens
After the long ball, the prince, having backed Tancredi's marriage into new money and refused a place in the new government, slips away. He walks home through the dawn streets, kneeling as a priest carries the sacrament, then disappears into the dark.
The last image
The prince kneels briefly as a priest passes with the sacrament, then walks off alone into the darkness.
What it says
The prince has helped his family survive by changing, but he knows he cannot belong to the new order. The ending is an elegy: with quiet dignity, he steps away from a world that is passing, and from life itself.