Casanova Review
by samseescinema (sammeriam AT comcast DOT net)December 7th, 2005
Casanova
reviewed by Sam Osborn of www.samseescinema.com
rating: 2 out of 4
Director: Lasse Halstrom
Cast: Heath Ledger, Sienna Miller, Omid Djalili, Natalie Dormer Screenplay: Jeffrey Hatcher, Kimberly Simi
MPAA Classification: R (some sexual content)
The players of Casanova certainly talk the talk, but they fail to walk the walk. The film is a light, bubbly romantic comedy set in Venice during the period of the Roman Catholic Inquisition, where the Church hung and executed as it pleased and a man named Casanova had moves slick enough to bring even a nun to his bed. Characters speak in the formal, vaulted tongue of the period, but move and romance each other as modern-day lovers. And the argument "Love doesn't change with history" cannot apply to Casanova, simply because none of the characters spark enough chemistry or are allowed enough on-screen time together to actually form what cinema would consider Love. The film dilutes itself with an unnecessary, wanton need to mute the pressures of arranged marriage and religious trickery during its time period and does so only for the sake of making a film worthy of being called "cute." Admittedly, at times Casanova achieves this label of cute and sweet, but when it comes to its heart, Casanova is an empty vessel.
The film opens as Casanova (Heath Ledger) seduces yet another beautiful woman. Only, this time the beautiful woman is a nun. Apparently, Casanova has been courting many women at Venice's local convent and consequently is interrupted midway through his current seduction by a raid of Catholic Inquisitors. He temporarily escapes, leaping across rooftops and accidentally becoming an attendant to a University debate discussing the validity of higher female education. One of the debaters stands and tears off his mustache, revealing that the he is really a she. This she, incidentally, is the woman Casanova finally decides to give his heart to, Francesca (Sienna Miller). But time is short, and Casanova is quickly captured and taken to be sentenced. The charges are dropped, however, when his connections with royalty earn him a deal in which he must marry to prove an end to his serial promiscuity, avoiding further prosecution. Marching off with his charming assistant (Omid Djalili) the next morning, Casanova chooses the girl most known for her virgin purity, Victoria (Natalie Dormer). Her fathers dotes that she has not even been alone in a room with another man, he's made sure of it. And when sweet Victoria eavesdrops on her father's conversation with Casanova, she snaps the garden's birdcage in great anticipatory passion. Of course, there's sure to be complications when, after agreeing to an engagement with Victoria, Casanova incidentally falls in love with Francesca who, by way of plot contrivance, has been scheduled a husband within the month.
Throughout its first act, Casanova seems convincingly promising. We're presented with an understated and supremely confident protagonist in the form of Casanova--played charmingly by Ledger--and a time period known for its intriguing historical gravity. Knowing nothing of the film beforehand, I was contented to find that, judging by its opening act, Casanova could grow to become a satisfying periodic rendition of last year's Alfie. But, alas, I was wrong. There is no quiet redemption of our hero or spiraling plummet at the hands of beautiful women. Casanova changes his ways like the flick of a light-switch and decides not on promiscuity, but on love. Screenwriters Jeffrey Hatcher and Kimberly Simi forgo any emotional transformation and decide simply on forming sticky situations for their hero to lie and charm his way out of. It's funny on occassion, but as the film swings on, the story starts flailing for new characters and obstacles to plummet in the way of our protagonist. At one point, the original Inquisitor assigned to Casanova's prosecution is suddenly fired by Bishop Giovanni and sent to South America to be eaten by cannibals. Hmmm, we say. Hmmmm.....
All this would be pardonable, however, if director Lasse Halstrom could give Casanova a justifiable reason to leap all these hurdles of plot contrivances. The love story, perhaps, would be a swell idea for this film's centerpiece. But, again, were sullied with a severe lack of chemistry between Ledger and Miller. The two couldn't make sparks with a match and some lighter fluid. This could be blamed, however, on the screenplay's strange lack of interest in Casanova and Francesca's story. It instead busies itself with silly scheming bishops and sub-plots where fat men are doused in mint cream and coffee grounds (don't ask).
But Casanova is admittedly not all bad. Oliver Platt as Francesca's would-be husband is satisfactory as usual, garnering as many laughs as his similar fringe role in The Ice Harvest. Omid Djalili also squeezes some chuckles out of his proud and overtly loyal role as Casanova's assistant. And lastly, Ledger smirks and grins through the picture, slurring charmed lines with precise delivery. Sienna Miller, however, seems to sleepwalk through her scenes, failing to evoke any sort of reaction from the audience and causing us to fall even further away from her relationship with Casanova.
Lasse Halstrom has made some provocative, affecting pictures in recent years (Cider House Rules, What's Eating Gilbert Grape?, An Unfinished Life), but with Casanova seems to stall out in second gear. The film is plodding and senseless, never evoking more than a chuckle or a grin from its audiences, and proving once again that in order to succeed in romantic comedy, what first must be proven is the chemistry between the lovers.
-reviewed by Sam Osborn of www.samseescinema.com
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
