Casanova (2005)

Very well executed

Fantastic!

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

I decided to watch this movie after reading Leonard Maltin's "151 Best Movies You've Never Seen". However, despite the film's inclusion on his list, I was not very impressed. Much of it is probably because I was a history teacher...and the film is rife with anachronisms. The problem is that the writer inserted 21st century sensibilities into a story set in the 18th century....which might make folks today feel good but which simply is bad history.The story finds a feisty woman (WHY are they always so feisty in these stories??) who doesn't want to marry a man her family is picked out for her...even though that WAS how rich folks married back in the day. Marriage contracts were meant to solidify fortunes....and yet this woman complains about not having any choice. Back then the choices were simple...marry who your family picked out for you or spend your life in a convent. She also was big into screaming about inequality...more a late 19th early 20th century sort of beef. As for Casanova, he's portrayed as a highly enlightened man...whereas the real Casanova was hardly this enlightened (read up on him sometime...he was into sex with children and slaves, among other things). And, it's everyone else around these two who are essentially idiots. Add to that a terrible scene involving a miniature balloon that would make physics teachers angry and you've got a film which pays very little attention to the realities of life in 18th century Venice. About the only nice thing I can say about this out of time film is the look of Venice...it is lovely and the director and camera person both did very well in this sense. Otherwise, a dull and silly story with little to recommend it.

......................................................from Pasto,Colombia...Via: L.A. CA., CALI, COLOMBIA and ORLANDO, FLWhen Disney Studios wants to produce a film that definitely is not for children, it is produced under the name Touchstone. Pretty Woman with Julia Roberts and Richard Gere is a Touchstone film!...And of course, so is CASANOVA.With Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight) in the title role and Jeremy Irons, Lena Olin and Oliver Platt also in the cast, Casanova is a film that has a lot to offer. Visually, both the scenes of Venice and the photography, in general,are exquisite. The costumes also demonstrate great variety and are quite impressive.Several of the story line situations and characters are extremely humorous. The interpretations rendered by Jeremy Irons and Oliver Platt are truly fabulous. True, most of the historical references do not match reality, but, after all, it is a comedy....and most important of all, it's a rousingly entertaining movie! Of course, there are romantic elements in the story development. (With a title like Casanova, could it possibly be any different?) Even the music is spot on to transport viewers back to 1758!8*..…ENJOY/DISFRUTELA! Any comments, questions or observations, in English o en Español, are most [email protected]

This is a lovely little feel-good film featuring a bunch of memorable performances from Heath Ledger, Sienna Miller (and a particularly brilliant one from Jeremy Irons), among others. The films offers a rather playful take on the life of the notorious womanizer Giacomo Casanova and tells us about his one true love, a strong-headed Venetian lady with feministic views, and the pains that the 18th century libertine takes to possess her, as a ruthless inquisitor, appointed by the pope, tries to execute him on the charges of heresy. A guilty pleasure of sorts with little historical significance, Casanova is nonetheless a must watch for the late Heath Ledger fans!For more on the world of cinema, please visit my film blog "A Potpourri of Vestiges".

Fictionalized story based on the historical figure of Casanova. It's a chick flick with a decent cast that has little to work with. Heath Ledger is alright but it's a fluff part so don't expect much. Sienna Miller is pretty but forgettable. Jeremy Irons and Oliver Platt are slumming. Dolla dolla bill y'all! It's supposed to be a comedy but I didn't laugh once. I was bored throughout most of it. I hate to pick on it because it's not a poorly-made movie. Just not something that interests me much. If you're a big fan of Ledger or Miller, or if you just like these types of movies, you might enjoy this more than I did. Otherwise avoid it because it's not funny or sexy and certainly not romantic. It's just kind of there.