Reviews Trickle In: It’s Casanova in a Romp

The reviews look pretty positive for the out-of-competition debut of director Lasse Hallstrom’s Casanova at the Venice Film Festival. Do not expect an art film. Turns out it has precious little to do with actual history or high-voltage nookie-mongering. What we have instead is a rather broad comedy, or as the director himself puts it, ” the Disney version” of one of history’s randiest dudes.

Hallstrom says he flipped through Casanova’s journals, then decided to invent his own rake. "The real Casanova is a wonderful idea for another film," said Hallstrom, "but we pretty much threw that one out the window to make this one."

This is a pic designed to play in the Red States, for sure. The Hollywood Reporter writes that it’s “a genuine crowd-pleaser that should have exhibitors everywhere smiling along with huge numbers of moviegoers”. And London’s Evening Standard says “the film has energy and pace but very little sophistication. But if you like pretty costumes to go with pretty faces, and the kind of historical romp that murders reality but provides instant, easy entertainment, this Casanova is for you.”

Comparisons to Richard Lester’s madcap film, The Three Musketeers, abound. Screen Daily says the film is “more a farce-tinged rom-com than a risque sex romp”. The Hollywood Reporter says that Heath Ledger portrays Casanova like an “overgrown kid rather than the smooth seducer; more Gerard Depardieu than Errol Flynn.”

Translation: it’s OK to sit next to your parents for this one.

The city, as always was ready for its close-up. Writes the Hollywood Reporter, “Venice has never looked so scintillating on screen”. It wouldn’t be Venice without some controversy, though, would it? And so the Gazzettino is reporting that cultural commissioner Sandro Parenzo is grousing about how the production company cheaped-out and exploited the Comune, paying only US $90,000 for unprecedented access to calles, campi and the insides of countless, rarely filmed palazzi and other vintage buildings.

Comments

[catherine]

I was there when they were filming and loved seeing Venice as it might have been during that period. I'm sure I will never again see anything remotely like it.

It's too bad that they only paid that much, but I have to wonder what the behemoth cruise liners pay to go past the Guidecca. They are the ridiculous to Casanova's sublime.
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I've read an argument in the papers that suggests the $90M is irrelevant given the tremendous amount of money the production pumped into the general Venetian economy. I'm sure LA or NY doesn't feast on fees from production companies. Many communities and states actually subsidize production costs to bring the commerce in.
N.

[sandy]

Alas I didn't get to see Casanova, long queues and over-priced tickets (35 euros)put me off - could have seen another film in the open air of Campo San Polo but it wasn't a film that grabbed me. Besides the BBC did a drama version of Casanova recently (some scenes were shot in Dubrovnik :-s)with Peter O'Toole which eas great - based on his diaries.

[Kevin]

I'm a bit disappointed in you... surely you don't subscribe to the stupid "red state/blue state" thing?
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You know, I suppose a lot of dopey, divisive things have been said about the reds and the blues. And, for what it's worth, I think that's a shame. At times, it seems like two frathouses or rival soccer clubs or something. The Red/Blue paradigm is a stereotype for SOME non-thinkers who inject their preexisiting biases into a convenient shell.

But there are actually some rather pronounced differences between the Bush and Kerry states that in some ways serve as a handy, if crude, way of characterizing the cultural divide in this country.

See http://www.zogby.com/news/ReadNews.dbm?ID=775, for example. This is a statistically sound survey of behaviors, beliefs and attitudes of the residents of the two different geographic classes. In this sense, I referred in my post to those folks for whom graphic sexual content would have been a problem. And I assure you, that opinion would fall out along red/blue lines.

But I'll grant you this. I'll give some thought to whether I want to use the phrase in the future. On reflection, I think its meaning may have been contaminated by people who have intentions other than mine.

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