Customer Reviews
"I will die if I don't have him". - By: Brida, 28 Dec 2008 
CASANOVA is one of those films that you come away from neither truly loving or hating them. On the plus side, the film is sumptuously shot - the costumes, setting & scenery are all absolutely amazing. However, on the down side, the acting can seem a little wooden at times & the action can make the film seem more like a Carry On film rather than a romantic historical romp. Although there is nothing which greatly irritates, what comedy & romance there is is so slight neither truly has an impact. Personally, I did not feel that there was any chemistry between Ledger & Miller, & so trying to view this film as one about love & romance failed miserablely - rather than love it seemed all about lust & sex. Because of this, the storyline of Casanova having lost his heart to the one woman who seems immune to his advances felt very fragile - did he really love her, or was it just because he couldn't have her that he wanted her??
Those minor points aside, CASANOVA does remain to be OK for whiling some time away. The soundtrack defintiely adds to the whole experience, making it enjoyable if not outstanding.
Surprisingly innocent and funny - By: Marshall Lord, 17 Nov 2006 
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 womanin Venice throw herself at him, including those who appear to be extremely respectable & 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 Ledgerin the title role & Jeremy Irons as Bishop Pucci, the inquisitor who is trying to hang Casanova, were particularly good.
The music, scenery & costumes were also fantastically beautiful. Venice is one of the most visually wonderful citiesin the world, & the production team made full use of this, bothin the scenes which were shot on location &in the backdrops. The latter included some beautiful buildings which we can appreciate today onlyin the paintings of Canaletto & his contemporaries, but which have since fallen down or been demolished. Some of the scenes which were shot on locationin Venice had to have the dialogue re-recordedin a studio & added back in, as the background noise was too loud & 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 buildingin this view, the Campanile of the church of S. Maria della Carita, actually fell downin 1744, twelve years before the main action of the film, but it would still have still been standingin Casanova's boyhood. I didn't spot it againin the backgrounds showing Venicein 1756, which suggests someone did some very careful work on what would & would not have been seen at particular times.
The musical soundtrack is wonderful, & 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, & 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, & 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 bein 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, & then reminiscing about the one love affair, backin 1756, which he has left out - the love affair of Casanova & 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 & exclaims "An eternity of damnation for one night with Casanova!" As soon as he has left the room she pulls a wry smile & 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, & 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 & 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 seriouslyin 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, & 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 & demands that her father accept the proposal. Natalie Dormer is a little under-usedin this story, & her character is played strictly for laughs. But if she can reproducein a wider range of contexts the performance she givesin this film, changingin 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 isin 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 - & the fact that she despises him seems to make her irresistible to him.
There are too many other excellent performancesin the film to list them all, but they include those of Lena Olin as Francesca's beautiful widowed mother, Charlie Cox as her brother, & 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, & 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 & 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 & very entertaining indeed.
Carry On Casanova - By: Amanda Richards, 26 Jul 2006 
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 & misunderstandings abound, as Heath Ledger tries to fill the trousers of the legendary lothario without getting a broken backin the process.
It takes placein 1753in 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 friendsin the right places & escapes being strung up for debauchery (a big word whichin 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 earlyin the movie that he has a very good reason for sticking around, so marriage it is, & 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, & she turns out to be a cross-dressing (but only when necessary to prove a point) feminist writer who hates every bonein 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 & especially the times of Casanova & should be taken with a pinch of salt - or was that lard?
Amanda Richards
An enjoyable romp - By: Guy Mannering, 11 Jun 2006 I couldn't remember the newspaper reviews for this movie & 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 Shakespearein Love which it somewhat resembles) & sumptuous to look at. If you come to it expecting a distillation of Casanova's endless memoirs covering the length & breadth of Europe then you'll be disappointed & 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 - By: B. Chandler, 08 Jun 2006 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 & is filmedin Venice. It is one of those farces of mistaken identity & opportunity.
Everyone did an excellent portray of the characters & 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 & sunsets. And for those that like adventure you will not be disappointed.
