******************************************************************************
Casanova
There's
more
swordplay than foreplay in this romantic comedy
based
on the escapades
of the legendary lover of 18th century Venice.
An entertaining
romp,
as light and bubbly as a glass of Proseco.
 .
Venetian
Maze
There’s
more swordplay than
foreplay in this spin on the escapades of the 18th century legendary
lover Casanova. The story unfolds like a Shakespeare comedy without the
poetry -- riddled with mistaken identities, nom de plumes,
cross-dressing, masks, and masques.
The movie
looks gorgeous,
with period costumes in the Venetian settings. The cast is lively and
engaging, dancing nimbly through the intricate steps of the plot, which
twists and turns like the maze-like streets of Venice itself.
If the movie had been a
little more serious, it could have been a little more romantic, but
director Lasse Halleström could not resist some anachronistic
double-entendres (in the James Bond style), and chose to keep it all as
light and bubbly as a glass of Prosecco.
We first
meet Casanova as a
mere lad, being dropped off (by rowboat -- this is Venice, after all)
to live with his grandmother. “I’ll be back,” his mother promises,
as
she rows off to be with her lover.
Jump to a
decade or so
later, and Casanova (Heath Ledger) is the cool, charming, strenuously
uncommitted ladies’ man of legend. In an apparently-typical escapade,
his interlude with a novitiate is rudely interrupted by the Doge’s
henchmen, under orders to arrest the rake for corrupting the morals of
the female population of Venice.
Clambering over rooftops and leaping over canals to elude his pursuers,
he is
distracted by the unexpected appearance of a comely female. He is
captured and hauled off to the Doge, who warns that his days (and
nights) of debauchery must end, because the Vatican is getting annoyed.
It’s clear that morality isn’t the real issue, but simply an excuse for
a power grab; nonetheless, the great lover is ordered to clean up his
act by getting married, prontissimo.
Casanova
Meets His Match
Casanova selects the lovely virgin Victoria (Natalie Dormer,
hilariously
seething
with untapped libido) as the ideal fiancée to burnish his image.
The engagement
upsets the boy next door(or across the canal, in this case), who has
been languishing with
unrequited love for Victoria. The impetuous neighbor lad challenges
Casanova
to a duel, not realizing the true identity of his rival.
Casanova soon crosses swords with the quick-witted, sharp-tongued
Francesca (Sienna Miller), who is all-too clearly impervious to his
legendary charms.
She is scornful of his philosophy of love as a banquet of indulgence,
holding out for the
ideal man who has the refined taste to savor one true love.
  
As anyone knows from the time-honored conventions of romantic comedies,
there’s nothing like abattle of wits to spark passion. Casanova
realizes,
to his own amazement and dismay, that, in selecting the chaste and
docile Victoria
for his bride, he’s “made a terrible mistake.”
He sets
his sights on the
feisty Francesca, trying simultaneously to discover the identity of the
man she
secretly visits, while delaying the courtship by a man her late father
arranged to be her husband -- the portly Paprizzio, Lard King of Genoa
(Oliver Platt).
The
arrival of Pucci,
the villanous Papal Inquisitor (Jeremy Irons, chewing the
scenery
with relish, ham on the side) raises the stakes, as he is determined to
capture, convict, and execute the legendary lover for heretical
libidinous in the nth-degree (or something along those lines).
Behind
the Masks
There is a vein
of
seriousness underlying this frothy romp -- at its core, the characters
are wrestling with identity issues: what (and when, and how much)
we
reveal to others, while still being be true to ourselves.
 
Heath Ledger is appropriately dashing in a role more like his turn in A
Knight’s Tale than the recent Brokeback Mountain.
Sienna Miller’s warm and witty Francesca is
a perfect foil, and one is
grateful, on behalf of Casanova, that she relents toward him; Casanova,
for his part, is smart enough to realize how lucky he is.
Lena Olin is delightful as the scheming mother urging her daughter to a
wealthy marriage, only to find the best-laid plans surprisingly
disrupted.
Platt’s pompous suitor reveals a sweet vulnerability behind the bulk,
and Jeremy
Irons’menacing Inquisitor casts a shadow on the lightheartedness.
  
Despite the
life-or-death threat at the climax, there is never any doubt of the
happy ending. Keeping track of all the twists is tricky, and upon
reflection there are some plot holes you could sail a gondola through.
But, taken in the spirit of an entertaining romp, the characters all
seem to be enjoying themselves, and the audience does too.
Memorable
Moments
- Weight-loss
regimen or
torture? What’s the difference?
- Inquisitor's
comment on bacon.
- Seduction
in a hot air
balloon, floating over Venice by night
- .
- Heavy
necking
(literally) in a gondola at dawn.
Credits
and
Rating
 Director: Lasse
Hallstrom
(The Cider House Rules,
Chocolat, The Shipping News)
Screenwriters:
Jeffrey Hatcher (Stage Beauty) and Kimberly Simi
Rated R: which is puzzling.
Apparently the R is “for some sexual content” but considering the
subject matter, the movie reveals remarkably little skin, and the
sexual innuendo is on the junior-high school level. The most flesh on
display is Oliver Platt’s, and it’s neither prurient or pretty.
Runtime:
108 minutes
[Note:
this review originally
appeared movies.lovetoknow.com under the name "JoyceH"]
|
