Plot
Heath Ledger plays the fabled romantic as a man who, after failing to win the affection of a particular Venetian woman, strives to discover the real meaning of love.
Release Year: 2005
Rating: 6.5/10 (23,930 voted)
Critic's Score: 57/100
Director:
Lasse Hallström
Stars: Heath Ledger, Sienna Miller, Jeremy Irons
Storyline Casanova is love with Francesca, who thinks he is a friend of himself even though he is engaged Victoria, who is the love of Giovanni, Francessca's brother. Francessca is betrothed to Paprizzio who thinks Casanova is the feminist writer Guardi, who is really Francessca's nomme de plume. Amidst all these secret identities and misunderstandings, the Catholic Church sends Pucci to bring Casanova and Guardi to trial for heresy.
Writers: Jeffrey Hatcher, Kimberly Simi
Cast: Heath Ledger
-
Casanova
Sienna Miller
-
Francesca
Jeremy Irons
-
Pucci
Oliver Platt
-
Paprizzio
Lena Olin
-
Andrea
Omid Djalili
-
Lupo
Stephen Greif
-
Donato
Ken Stott
-
Dalfonso
Helen McCrory
-
Casanova's Mother
Leigh Lawson
-
Mother's Lover
/
Tito
Tim McInnerny
-
The Doge
Charlie Cox
-
Giovanni Bruni
Natalie Dormer
-
Victoria
Philip Davis
-
Guardi
(as Phil Davis)
Paddy Ward
-
Vittorio
Taglines:
He won every woman's heart. She won his.
Filming Locations: Palazzo Soranzo Van Axel - 6099 Sestiere Cannaregio, Venice, Venato, Italy
Opening Weekend: $231,077
(USA)
(25 December 2005)
(37 Screens)
Gross: $11,294,832
(USA)
(16 April 2006)
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Did You Know?
Trivia:
When Casanova is running away from the Inquisition in the opening scene he jumps through a window and into the University of Venice. The University of Venice never existed and the building he jumps into is in fact the "Teatro Olimpico", one of the first Renaissance theaters 140 kilometers away from Venice.
Goofs:
Anachronisms:
In one long shot of Venice at sunset, the viewer can clearly see contrails in the sky caused by passing jet planes.
Quotes: Lupo:
The apple is very distracting.
User Review
Delightful Comic Romantic Romp
Rating: 9/10
"Casanova" is a delightful comic farce that uses a period setting for
an amusing cross between "The Princess Bride," "Much Ado About Nothing"
and the spirit of "The Marriage of Figaro" (not at all "Don Giovanni"
that is based on the same legend).
Director Lasse Hallström gets the romantic romp tone right here,
compared to what he did not achieve in "Chocolat." He establishes from
the opening that this is just fun opera buffo, with frequent sight gags
and commedia dell'arte troupes and Punch and Judy-type puppet shows
broadly commenting on the action, though it took four writers to stitch
together the broad double entendres and winks at Shakespeare, from,
appropriately, "Merchant of Venice", to "The Merry Wives of Windsor" to
"Taming of the Shrew."
Heath Ledger has grown up since he first demonstrated he had the light
touch for romantic comedy in the teen version of "Shrew," "10 Things I
Hate About You," and he's much more confident now. One of the cute
conceits of the film is that the women are the aggressors, especially
the virgins and novices. As the title character, he modestly claims
that his success is solely due to his ability to submit. While he's not
particularly leonine in the frequent shots of him lounging on a divan,
he is dashing as he runs around Venice taking on several different
mistaken identities. If his clinch with Jake Gyllenhaal in "Brokeback
Mountain" wouldn't already qualify him for an MTV Best Kiss this year,
the big one with Sienna Miller could earn a nomination.
Miller is a bit young for her role as a Portia-like "transvestite"
philosopher defending the rights of women, but her youth makes her
brash earnestness seem more charmingly naïve. As her lively mother,
Lena Olin provides the older woman ballast, without the usual
sex-starved widow stereotypes.
Oliver Platt should be signed immediately to do a major production of
"Falstaff," as he deftly and physically plays that character type, here
a lard mogul representative of mercantile Genoa, even more deliciously
and sympathetically than he has in "Ice Harvest" and "Huff."
Jeremy Irons has fun playing the Inquisitor, representing religious
Rome, whose purple robes fit right in at a carnivale masquerade ball.
The look of the film helps enormously, with the best use of Venice as a
sensuously unique setting since "Dangerous Beauty," not just for the
usual gondolas and canals, but the steps, plazas, architecture, roofs,
narrow streets, alleys and the light. The wigs and costumes are
wonderfully colorful.
The marvelous stitching together of Baroque music keeps the mood merry,
with overtures and dances from eight Jean-Philippe Rameau operas, six
Italian composers, including of course Vivaldi, as well as snatches of
Handel and Telemann added at appropriate water and fireworks moments.
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