~ Lies told, Virtue lost and Love found ~ (Casanova (DVD))

Member Name: blackmagicstar4

Product:	Casanova (DVD)
Date:	29/04/09 (171 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great actors, Brilliant locations, Good storyline

Disadvantages: Certificate, abit short

~ Lies told, Virtue lost and Love found ~


Casanova was released in 2006 in the UK and I've only just watched it. When it first came out was really wanted to see it and must have forgotten all about it until the other week when I added it to my list on Lovefilm. I watched a trailer of the film online which made me add it to my list. I am a huge fan of Heath Ledger and I quite like films that are from a certain era. The trailer looked really good to me and this is a sort of film my mum also likes which gives me a boosting in winning over the TV downstairs. To be honest I didn't know much about the film before I had watched it, I knew roughly what it was about and I was intrigued to see what else would be produced out of quite a vague idea of this handsome, womaniser Casanova. I also did not recognise the director's name but after looking at the titles when it appeared I googled his name but the reason I didn't know it was because the director Lasse Hallstrom has not done a lot of well known productions. I was quite looking forward to seeing what this was all about and I was quite disappointed that the film was only a 12. I think that because of the theme and story of the movie they should have put it up to 15 and made more of it. Casanova is supposed to be this heartthrob, sex machine back in the day and there wasn't a lot of sexual seducing partly because of the low certificate. Anyway regarding this factor I wasn't disappointed with anything else during the film.

The History of Casanova

Giacomo Girolamo Casanova De Seingalt lived in the period of 1725-1798 and was an author and adventurer. He was the womaniser of the period and his autobiography is one of the best sources of life during the 18th century that we have. He was famous for his art of seduction and was called the 'world's greatest lover'. Casanova did write about his life and spent much time with royalty friends like The Pope seen in the film too. A lot of the history of Casanova was done right in the film, showing Casanova's early life. He was brought up by his grandmother and his mother was a dancer. His memoirs have not been forgotten and he was a big influence on the public at this time.

INFO

Director - Lasse Hallstrom

As previously mentioned I did not recognise this director's name when it appeared on the start of the film. Lasse is a Swedish director who has not done a lot of well known films but as directed four actors to Oscars, who include Michael Caine. His work has been nominated for Oscars and awards but has not won any. The only other films that I slightly recognise which he has directed are- 'The Shipping News' (2001), 'Chocolat' (2000) and 'The Cider House Rules' (1999). This didn't make an impact on my expectations as I haven't seen these other films so I cannot tell what his work is like. Saying this, Lasse has worked on many TV scripts for series mainly Swedish productions and he has appeared as an actor in ABBA: The Definitive Collection (2002), so he has done plenty of work to give him a positive image.

Writers- Jeffrey Hatcher and Kimberly Simi (Screenplay).
Release Date- 17 Feb 2006 (UK)
Runtime- 112 Mins
Certificate- 12A
Company- Touchstone Pictures

PLOT

Giacomo Casanova is a womanising sexual man who is roaming the streets of Venice looking after all the women in the city. He is young, handsome and all the women desire him. Casanova's ways changes as he falls instantly in love with feminist novelist Francesca. Casanova has been punished from his sly behaviour and it is agreed that he can only stay in Venice if he marries and settles down, after he is engaged to Victoria, he cannot take his eyes of Francesca. He is to be married in three days but tries desperately to get Francesca's attention for which he discovers she is engaged too. The Catholic Church descends on the town knowing of Casanova and finding a way to destroy him for Heresy, Casanova has to find a way of showing his true love for Francesca after she stands for everything that he is not.

Casanova is set in the late 1700's where women were considered only for lovers and men thought they should rule everything. Francesca's feminist views bring hatred to the story by many high respected men and members of the government. After she publishes several feminist books under someone else's name she also could face the consequences of heresy.

CAST and CHARACTERS

Heath Ledger plays the legendary Casanova, the sexiest man in Venice who all the women want to spend the night with. He is a smooth talker and makes women see him as irresistible.
Heath was a brilliant and well respected actor who featured in all major films including- 'The Dark Knight' (2008), 'Brokeback Mountain' (2005) and 'A Knight's Tale' (2001).

Sienna Miller is Francesca Bruni, a independent feminist who thinks that men should not rule over women and thinks women are just as or even more intelligent than some men. She is artistic, creative and writes her own novels.
Sienna is also one of Hollywood's leading ladies and she has appeared in other huge films such as- 'The Edge of Love' (2008), 'Stardust' (2007) and 'Alfie' (2004).


Oliver Platt stars as Paprizzio a rich, powerful man that Francesca has been told she has to marry even though they have never met. He is a typical overweight, money loving man and Casanova is jealous of him.
Oliver has also appeared in many other films which some of you may know such as- 'Don't Say a Word' (2001), 'Martian Child' (2007) and 'Dr Dolittle' (1998).

Jeremy Irons plays Pucci
Natalie Dormer- Victoria
Lena Loin- Andrea Bruni
Omid Djalili - Lupo

OPINIONS

Themes

There are many themes and morals evident in the film particularly because of the time it is set in. Many of these include men and women and roles in which they have at the time period. Even though this is a romantic love film there are many topics which occur throughout which I found interesting.
- Men and Women Roles- Obviously because of the time period men over ruled women. There are limited female roles in the film, excluded Francesca the only relevant roles are her mother Andrea and Victoria. Both women are well mannered, do not speak over a man and does what they are told. Women during this time were very naïve and I love Francesca's character. She stirs up the way women should behave and thinks that women have the right to do the same as men. All the men have important roles which were right during the era, including The Pope, The Council members are all men and there are many rich, educated men who rule the city.
- Romance is the main feature of the film and it is shown in the city of Love Venice. In this time era it is shown that not all people married for love and it was more to do with power and wealth. Many parents arranged their children's marriages without them knowing and they were married to others who they have not even met before. This story does show that true love is better and more passionate. It is good to see though that love is not shown as one big fairytale and that there are complications.
- The Catholic Church was another big theme in the story. During this time in Venice the church did rule the city over the government. It did show that they pretty much tried to do as they pleased and had authority over what happened to people. The Pope even though has a huge influence which clears Casanova many times of his crimes; the Venetian Inquisition has the right to arrest and trial him.

Acting and Directing

Lasse has shown a passionate and intriguing side to social life during the 18th century which explains well the life of famous lover Casanova in true form. The way everything that was portrayed was brilliant and he shows a new side of what life was like in this time period. He choose the right actors, the right location and I think it was a very well put together film. Although he did not win awards for this film he has been nominated for his work in other productions.

The acting was also done superbly and I thought that there was an amazing connection and chemistry between Heath and Sienna. The passion between the characters is believable and each scene was done at the highest standard. Heath Ledger again shows his unique acting skills in yet another successful film and he doesn't fail to show his ability in acting. I have also been a fan of his and think that any character he does is nicely thought about and shown. He plays all different kinds of roles but does this character the best. I think he was a great choice for the part as he is a handsome man but not in a cheesy way which some actors could have looked if given the part, he has a subtle but elegant beauty about him. Sienna was also casted right, she is of natural beauty and even it was nice to see that a beautiful woman had such strong beliefs in roles and independence. They both created an elegant and romantic vibe which best suited the story.

Narrative and Mise En Scene

The story line was very good and even though it was simple it included other sub plots to keep it interesting. Following the story of a real person living during this time really attracted me to watch it. I like watching films that are based on true events or people as I like to know about historic events and influence certain people brought to the world. After looking up about Casanova I think the film really followed his real life events well.
As said earlier Casanova was brought up by his grandmother whom we see in the film and he did have a lot of royal friends such as the Pope which we also see. It is nice knowing that they stuck to the real events well and I feel that his life is shown brilliantly.
The love story in the film was shown nicely, even though it is what actually happened it was good to see that he had to fight for his true love and that it is not that easy to gain the person you really want. The complications for the characters gave it a more realistic view that love is hard and not always like a fairytale. I really did like the sub plot of Casanova's mother.
It was good to see that In this time there were people who did not have the normal two parents.
Everything about the film was believable. The costumes were outstanding and were supplied by four different Italian costume houses; some of the dresses are remarkable. Venice looked amazing and even though it was suppose to be set in this town of romance, some of the scenes were actually filmed in Vicenza, a northern Italian city. The language and accents were good and the old language was nice to hear. I think it can be portrayed as very poetic and passionate.

Main Positive Points

- Superb cast and high standard acting skills.
- Beautiful location with great camera shots.
- Nice storyline
- Passionate chemistry between the characters
- Mise en Scene, particularly the costumes and lighting.
- Fun, witty comedy
Negatives

There weren't really any major negatives that I would say but just a few small things that could have made it better. I think as mentioned before that the film should have been a 15 which then they could have included more of the womanising Casanova's ways. Those who do not know who he is get the idea of what he is like but I was abit disappointed when I saw that this romantic comedy about the 'greatest lover of all time' was only rated a 12. Also I think that I would have liked to see more of Casanova's life between the point his mother leaves and him being in Venice. The film just skips a massive gap of like 15 years of his life.

Memorable Quotes

Dalfonso- Eternal damnation for one night with Casanova
Sister Beatrice- Seems fair.

Lupo- The apple is very distracting

Casanova- She has a secret lover? Who?
Giovanni Bruni- I don't know, it's a secret.

Servant Girl - My lady says the pig must stay outside, but the animal, we'll take.

DVD

The DVD can be brought on Play.com At £5.99 which includes many special features -

* Audio Commentary from director Lasse Hallstrom
* 'Creating An Adventure': a behind the scenes look at the Casanova set and interviews with cast and crew
* 'Dressing In Style': a closer look at the costumes and an interview with the film's costume designer
* 'Hidden In Plain Sight': a look at an extended scene
* 'Visions Of Venice': the sights and sounds of the beautiful setting of Venice

Reception

The film when released received mixed reception from the audience and gained a 43% rotten tomatoes rating which I think is not bad. Some were not that impressed and said that they thought Heath could have done more and did not act to his potential.


Recommend

I would defiantly recommend this film as it is funny, lovable and fantastic.
It has good actors, great performances and brilliant storylines. I may consider buying the DVD as I really enjoyed it. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Website- http://video.movies.go.com/casanova/

Summary: The Greatest Lover Casanova