Stars: Heath Ledger, Sienna Miller, Jeremy Irons, Oliver Platt, Lena Olin, Omid Djalili, Helen McCrory, Charlie Cox, Philip Davis, Stephen Greif

Director: Lasse Hallstrom

Summary: CASONOVA is loosely based on the memoirs of the writer, adventurer, and infamous lover Giacomo Casanova themselves notably unreliable and fortunately has no pretensions to historical realism. Instead, it's a witty, lighthearted romantic comedy, which uses its 18th century setting and renowned hero as a jumping-off point for sexy banter and ruminations on love, lust, and freedom. Directed with visual flair and wit by Lasse Hallstrom a master of classy period pieces like CHOCOLAT and CIDER HOUSE RULES the movie was filmed on location in Venice, and the stunningly gorgeous scenery is almost a character in its own right. Heath Ledger, believable and engaging here in a role that couldn't be more different from his powerhouse performance in BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, turns on all of his considerable charms here. Abandoned by his mother as a child, Casanova has grown into a lascivious yet oddly innocent young man, who pursues pleasure wholeheartedly and mistakes lust for love. His biggest concern is eluding Italy's puritanical Inquisitors, until he meets Francesca Bruni (Sienna Miller), a beauty who publishes clever pamphlets on women's rights under a pen name. In the time-honoured tradition, Casanova is instantly smitten with the one woman in Venice who doesn't want anything to do with him. The plot provides few surprises, but that is beside the point; the pleasures of CASANOVA are in its warm freewheeling tone, its sumptuous visuals, and the cheerful exuberance of its actors. In addition to Ledger's winning star turn, Lena Olin is her usual mesmerising self as Francesca's scheming mother, and the reliably excellent Oliver Platt (as Francesca's overmatched fiance) and Jeremy Irons (as the frustrated head Inquisitor) both deliver deft comic performances.

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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

Aspect Ratio:	2.35 Wide Screen
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Creating An Adventure Behind The Scenes Look At The Casanova Set And Interviews With The Cast And Crew, Dressing In Style, Extended Sequence Hidden In Plain Sight, Visions Of Venice, Director Audio Commentary, Audio Described
Subtitles:	Bulgarian, Danish, English, Finnish, Greek, Icelandic, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, Swedish
Year:	2005
Release Date:	June 19, 2006
Runtime:	112 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	B U A 0011601
Keywords:	Action, Comedy, General, Casanova, Adventure
Genre:	Action/Adventure