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Casanova [2005]


RRP: £17.99
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Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review

A light farce dressed up as a lush 18th century costume drama, Casanova gives a fictional spin to the exploits of history's most rakish seducer of women. As played by Heath Ledger, this Casanova bears no resemblance to Donald Sutherland's unrepentant portrayal in Fellini's Casanova, filmed 30 years earlier. Instead, the great ladies' man of Venice is just biding time by bedding women, waiting for true love (and the return his long-absent mother) to settle down into blissful monogamy. He finds true love in Francesca (Sienna Miller), a feminist who initially resists Casanova's affections while director Lasse Hallström serves up a variety of lightweight subplots including Casanova's flight from the Vatican's inquisitor (Jeremy Irons); a host of mistaken identities involving, among others, the portly "Lard King of Genoa" (played with scene-stealing perfection by Oliver Platt in a blubbery fat suit); and the romantic negotiations of Francesca's mother (played by Hallström's wife, Lena Olin) and a young bumbler named Giovanni with his own promising future as a lover of women. It all adds up to a good-looking and harmless diversion that barely warrants an R-rating, and it makes a fine double-bill with the more enjoyable Dangerous Beauty, another Venetian lover's tale that was also blessed by the presence of Platt, who gives this Casanova the majority of its entertainment value. --Jeff Shannon


Surprisingly innocent and funny
Review date: 2006-11-17 Rating: 10 out of 10


I rented this film expecting from the reviews that it would be mildly diverting. In the event I found it laugh-out-loud funny: I have not laughed so much while watching a film for months if not years. And most of the time I was laughing with the film, not at it.

In more than one way this film was surprisingly similar to a film on the same subject which Bob Hope had made more than fifty years previously (Casanova's Big Night, 1954). In both cases the film is built around the same central joke, that Casanova's mere reputation as a great lover is enough to have every woman in Venice throw herself at him, including those who appear to be extremely respectable and virtuous, with precisely one exception - the woman he wants.

The quality of the acting, from the big names down to the complete unknowns, was superlative throughout - Heath Ledger in the title role and Jeremy Irons as Bishop Pucci, the inquisitor who is trying to hang Casanova, were particularly good.

The music, scenery and costumes were also fantastically beautiful. Venice is one of the most visually wonderful cities in the world, and the production team made full use of this, both in the scenes which were shot on location and in the backdrops. The latter included some beautiful buildings which we can appreciate today only in the paintings of Canaletto and his contemporaries, but which have since fallen down or been demolished. Some of the scenes which were shot on location in Venice had to have the dialogue re-recorded in a studio and added back in, as the background noise was too loud and modern - the production team did a brilliant job of this.

Set up research for the background scenes appears to have been very thorough indeed. During the opening sequence Casanova's mother (Helen McRory) leaves Venice while he is still a boy. A panoramic view of Venice is seen behind her barge: the most prominent building in this view, the Campanile of the church of S. Maria della Carita, actually fell down in 1744, twelve years before the main action of the film, but it would still have still been standing in Casanova's boyhood. I didn't spot it again in the backgrounds showing Venice in 1756, which suggests someone did some very careful work on what would and would not have been seen at particular times.

The musical soundtrack is wonderful, and all of the Baroque style of the period. Of course there is a lot of Vivaldi's music used, but there is also excellent music from many other 18th century composers including George Frederic Handel, Tomaso Albinoni, Corelli, and Teleman. The music track is almost worth buying the film for on it's own, though it is also available as a CD from Hollywood records, and if I don't decide to buy the film I will probably buy the music CD.

The plot is a romantic farce which does not try to take itself too seriously. At several stages of the story Casanova appears to be in grave danger of being executed, but the viewer can assume that he will somehow escape, because the film begins with a very elderly Casanova finishing his memoirs. We hear the voice of the aged rake referring to the ten thousand women with whom he had affairs, and then reminiscing about the one love affair, back in 1756, which he has left out - the love affair of Casanova and Francesca.

Each of the characters bring their own brand of humour to the film, but the film seldom goes for more than a few moments without something to make you laugh. After Casanova escape from a nun's bedroom one step ahead of the Inquisition, the head inquisitor Dalfonso, (played by Ken Stott) scowls at the nun and exclaims "An eternity of damnation for one night with Casanova!" As soon as he has left the room she pulls a wry smile and says "Seems fair!"

Jeremy Irons as the sinister Bishop Pucci who soon replaces Dalfonso, has the most brilliant dry understatement which he uses to underline the menace of his threatening statements, interspersed with throw-away lines. To make some of these work required some equally brilliant support from Pucci's assistant Andolini, played by Ben Moor, who has to alternate from one moment to the next between playing Adolf Eichmann to Pucci's Reinhard Heydrich, and acting as Jeremy Irons' straight man.

Heath Ledger plays Casanova as a sophisticated English public school rascal, wonderfully supported by Omid Djalili as Casanova's servant and companion Lupo. I would suggest that Lupo is Jeeves to Casanova's Bertie Wooster except that Casanova, unlike Bertie, is the brains of the outfit. But the scrapes they get up to are equally farcical.

Tim McInnery plays the Doge (ruler) of Venice so well that he finally banishes the ghost of Percy from Blackadder. I was unable to take McInnery seriously in some of his recent roles because I kept thinking of his role as Edmund Blackadder's second hapless sidekick. However, this time, despite wearing a historically accurate costume which is as silly as anything he had to wear for the former roles, McInnery manages to summon enough gravitas to be plausible as the Doge. The Doge is Casanova's friend, but warns him that he will have to marry a respectable woman or leave Venice.

The apparently respectable virgin who Casanova decides to marry is Victoria Donato, played by Natalie Dormer. Her father is initially horrified when the notorious rake Casanova asks for the hand of his virtuous virgin daughter, and is about to refuse. However, as soon as she hears that Casanova himself has asked to marry her, Victoria throws respectability to the four winds and demands that her father accept the proposal. Natalie Dormer is a little under-used in this story, and her character is played strictly for laughs. But if she can reproduce in a wider range of contexts the performance she gives in this film, changing in a moment from the aspect of an innocent virgin to that of a woman who is positively smouldering with overwhelming desire, she is guaranteed a successful career om Hollywood. The one slight problem with Natalie Dormer's performance is that she is in danger of upstaging the heroine - most men watching this will wonder why Casanova should make such an effort to pursue a woman who despises him, even if she is as beautiful as Sienna Miller, when he's about to marry an absolute firecracker like Victoria Donato.

But he does. Unfortunately, Casanova has no sooner agreed his engagement to Victoria when fate throws the proto-feminist Francesca Bruni, played by Sienna Miller, in his path - and the fact that she despises him seems to make her irresistible to him.

There are too many other excellent performances in the film to list them all, but they include those of Lena Olin as Francesca's beautiful widowed mother, Charlie Cox as her brother, and Oliver Platt as her fiancee, the wealthy lard merchant Paprizio.

There are some minor negatives. It's obviously not a very serious film. Apart from the costumes, sets, and music it bears very little resemblance to historical reality. Some viewers with a sophisticated sense of humour will find this too farcical. Others who were hoping for something a little more risque might be disappointed by the fact that this film is surprisingly innocent and has very little nudity - the 12 certificate is if anything on the strict side, this could almost be a PG.

However, overall I would have to rate this as one of the funniest films I have ever seen and very entertaining indeed.

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Reviews


Carry On Casanova
Review date: 2006-07-26 Rating: 8 out of 10

If you're old enough to have seen the "Carry On" movies the first time around, or have watched them on DVD on "oldies night", (don't worry, we're not going to ask your age) you'll see the resemblance to this funny take on the world's greatest lover. Slapstick, double entendres and misunderstandings abound, as Heath Ledger tries to fill the trousers of the legendary lothario without getting a broken back in the process.

It takes place in 1753 in Venice, a time when no woman is safe from the charms of Casanova, not even those confined to the convent. Luckily for him he has friends in the right places and escapes being strung up for debauchery (a big word which in the movie means that he shakes a lot of bedsprings without the benefit of a marriage license)

After going one conquest too far, his friend the Doge insists that Casanova get married ASAP, or face exile from Venice. Exile is not a possibility, as we learn early in the movie that he has a very good reason for sticking around, so marriage it is, and the lady to whom he pledges his troth is not only a virgin, but extremely willing to be wed. In a classic case of bad timing, he then meets the one woman worthy of his affection, and she turns out to be a cross-dressing (but only when necessary to prove a point) feminist writer who hates every bone in his body. She unfortunately is betrothed to a corpulent but very wealthy lard merchant (Oliver Platt) whom she has never set eyes on before, the union having being arranged by her late father as an insurance policy for the family fortune.

If you're still with me after all that, things get even more complicated when Jeremy Irons shows up as Inquisitor Pucci, out for the bewigged head of Casanova as a gift for the hangman's noose.

The important thing is not to attempt to take this movie seriously as a period piece, or as a factual account of the life of Casanova. It is a historically set spoof of the life and especially the times of Casanova and should be taken with a pinch of salt - or was that lard?


Amanda Richards

An enjoyable romp
Review date: 2006-06-11 Rating: 8 out of 10

I couldn't remember the newspaper reviews for this movie and on the basis that it made no great splash didn't have high expectations for it. But I found it a total delight - funny, fast-moving, slyly anachronistic (a la Shakespeare in Love which it somewhat resembles) and sumptuous to look at. If you come to it expecting a distillation of Casanova's endless memoirs covering the length and breadth of Europe then you'll be disappointed and better advised to get the recent BBC series. This is basically a Venetian romp which simply hinges on the gent's reputation, but as such most enjoyable (and unlike another reviewer here I loved the baroque music!)

The music is one of the actors
Review date: 2006-06-08 Rating: 10 out of 10

As the movie opens we approach Casanova from behind as he is about to reveal a story that is not his to tell. Based loosely on the known history of Casanova this play takes place and is filmed in Venice. It is one of those farces of mistaken identity and opportunity.

Everyone did an excellent portray of the characters and the time. However I must say I was very much taken by Victoria (Natalie Dormer) the Genoa virgin. I wonder how she makes her nostrils flair like that. And that was a cute scene when she broke the wooden bridge that was made just for that scene.

Aside from the great music, much of it original, there are some beautiful panoramas and sunsets. And for those that like adventure you will not be disappointed.


Nice scenery
Review date: 2006-05-16 Rating: 4 out of 10

The story opens in 18th century Venice, where Casanova (Heath Ledger) is shocking the citizenry with his amorous adventures. After dallying with a young nun, the clergy wants him tried for heresy and put to death. He decides to marry a suitable young girl, but only moments later he's smitten with the feisty Francesca (Sienna Miller), a bold, feminist writer who is betrothed to a wealthy merchant (Oliver Platt). There are several cases of mistaken identity as Casanova tries to keep ahead of the Inquisitor (Jeremy Irons), but true love prevails in the end.

With a stellar cast and the timeless beauty of Venice as a backdrop, this should have been a very good comedy. Unfortunately, for me, the script was poorly written, confusing, had too many subplots and characters, and was neither funny nor romantic. It ctually became tedious. I didn't care about any of the characters, even Casanova, who didn't seem very Italian. Aside from a few fleeting moments at the beginning, there was nothing sexy about the movie. I'm a fan of Ledger, but he wasn't appealing in this part, mostly, I suppose, because the plot was so chaotic and overloaded with subplots that he didn't have a chance to develop his character. I give the movie two stars for the beautiful costumes and Venetian scenery.

Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
Jeremy Irons
Sienna Miller
Oliver Platt
Stephen Greif
Heath Ledger

Creators:
Heath Ledger (Primary Contributor)
Stephen Greif (Primary Contributor)

Director(s):

Recording label: Buena Vista Home Entertainment
Manufacturer: Buena Vista Home Entertainment
EAN: 8717418083304
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: Dubbed, PAL, Widescreen,
Release date: 2006-06-19
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Audience rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 112 minutes
Theatrical release date: 2005
Language: Bulgarian (Subtitled)
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Language: English (Subtitled)
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Language: Portuguese (Subtitled)
Language: Romanian (Subtitled)
Language: Spanish (Subtitled)
Language: Swedish (Subtitled)
Language: English (Original Language)
Language: Italian (Dubbed)
Language: Spanish (Dubbed)

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