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A delightful romantic farce! Lasse Hallstrom’s historical romantic comedy Casanova (2005) is honestly a better period piece about ancient Venice than most serious period dramas out. Hallstrom’s direction is so classy and fast paced. Andrew Mondshein’s editing is so brisk that Casanova does not waste a second of screen time. Every frame is a joke, setup for a joke, or romantic entanglement for the complex love story. Heath Ledger is wonderful as the infamous libertine and renowned lover Casanova. Ledger’s warm personality and fun candor ensure his portrayal of Casanova is effortlessly charming and likable. He’s handsome, funny, endearing, sensitive, playful, considerate, flirty, and charismatic as Casanova. Everything you could want in a man. Heath was already considered a heartthrob after 10 Things I Hate About You, but he went on to star in Brokeback Mountain and Casanova the same year to solidify his place as one of the greats long before he played Joker in The Dark Knight. Heath was something special. Sienna Miller is remarkable as the intelligent, independent, spark of life and love interest to Casanova called Francesca Bruni. Her quick wit and charming personality make her a fine foil to the philanderous Casanova and a fun object of desire for Ledger to act off beside. I simply adore Natalie Dormer in Casanova as his aroused virgin fiancee Victoria. Her longing stares, biting lips, and amorous performance is just too much! Lena Olin is very striking as Sienna Miller’s desperate mother in more ways than one. Lauren Cohan is fun as the naughty nun Sister Beatrice in an early cameo role. I have to hand it to Omid Djalili for being absolutely riotous as Casanova’s manservant Lupo. Every single line of his got at least a chuckle from me. He’s even funnier in Casanova than he was in Sky Captain and The World of Tomorrow in a similar comedic, oafish sidekick role. Jeremy Irons is very funny as the pompous Bishop Pucci as he ridiculously leads an Inquisition into Venice seeking to hang Casanova. Oliver Platt is a good sport as he bears the brunt of numerous fat jokes at his expense as the bloated lard merchant Paprizzio. Tim McInnerny is funny as the lackadaisical Doge. Helen McCrory manages to be quite moving as Casanova’s beloved mother. Charlie Cox is a blast as the helpless, desperate virgin Giovanni Bruni. His scene slapping Heath and challenging him to a duel stills makes me roar with laughter. The sword fight is well choreographed and executed with thrilling results too. Hallstrom brings old Venice to life in all its squalor and charm. Oliver Stapleton’s cinematography is gorgeous like a more comedic Barry Lyndon or The Favourite. Hallstrom understands what’s funny and keeps the movie going, especially for comedies. You are constantly hollering with laughter at the absurdity of it all as well as the fact that Casanova was a real man, womanizer, poet, socialite, and much more I’m sure. Jeffrey Hatcher and Kimberly Simi’s genius writing for Casanova works as an intricate comedy of errors as well as a sincere declaration of true love for romantics. Alexandre Desplat composed a brilliant classical score that is dreamy in its romantic quality and stunning in his breath of understanding in how old composers created magnificent works for the symphony. Desplat continues to prove he’s arguably the best composer we have currently and Casanova is no exception. His score adds a warmth and energy that makes you believe you’re watching another era. In all, Casanova is not only a hilarious comedy, but a sweetly thoughtful romance.Read full review
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A smooth flowing romantic comedy, with most interesting speculations of the legendary womanizer from Venice. The colorful, cool portrait presented in this film works well, and makes for a most entertaining couple of hours, the acting is pretty fair, and the comedy mode makes it a lot less uptight than the usual soft porn approach most of the films made about him seem to have. It keeps you going and pretty soon you start cheering for his survival which continues to amaze you with every clever surprising turn. It will provably not win any academy awards, but it may be more entertaining than some of the winners! this movie is clever and entertaining, what more can you ask these days?!
Clever, fun, good plot, good acting, good scenery (Venice), good music (Vivaldi, other Baroque). A little masterpiece.
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The movie was well written, well done, but there were minor blurs and smears in the standard DVD version, where there was just too much detail for the normal DVD player to resolve. This new Blu-Ray version takes care of that, and detail in fringe, design, fine needlework-- instead of being a blur becomes a delight.
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