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Born in Venice in 1725 Giacomo Casanova, an adventurer, scholar
and lover, travels the length and breadth of Europe, bedding
women and seeking employment. He meets with various degrees
of success, though never as much as he claims, in his twelve
volume autobiography, and ends his days as a tormented librarian,
in Bohemia, with his portrait, covered in faecal matter adorning
the privy...
No
doubt, Fellini's Casanova was issued to cash in on
the increased interest in this real historical figure following
the BBC's most recent drama written by Russell T. Davies and
staring the future Doctor Who, David Tennant. This was not
the first time that Casanova had been the subject of a film;
there have been fifteen adaptations of his life, in film and
on television so far.
The
year 1918 saw the first cinematic version of his life in a
Hungarian film by Alfred Deesy, which also contains one of
Bela Lugosi' first roles. His next significant appearance
was in the BBC play, written by Dennis Potter, which being
Dennis Potter was held up for criticism due to its sexual
explicitness. In 1987 he was played by Richard Chamberlain
in Simon Langton's film, and prior to that in 1976, he was
portrayed by Donald Sutherland in Fellini's Casanova.
Frederico
Fellini (1920 - 1993) will always be remembered as one of
the great European directors, though not necessarily for Casanova,
but for his true masterpieces La Dolce Vita, La
Strada and Eight and a Half. He left behind a work
of twenty-five films as director and a significant number
of screenplays; he was also known to appear as an actor on
occasion. He started directing only when the director for
his screenplay of Luci del Varieta refused the job.
He went on to significantly add to the art of cinema.
Whilst
the film follows Casanova's life, historical accuracy was
not Fellini's first priority; he was more interested in the
destruction of what he perceived as civilisation through bourgeois
callousness and debauchery. The film thus allowed him to take
the audience on a grand tour of Europe's grotesque self styled
nobility - a dissolute bunch, for whom the word noble should
be an anathema in the audiences mind and also to highlight
Casanova's own faux nobility. Casanova's search for love and
the perfect woman is at once his grand conceit and the harbinger
of his eventual downfall. In Fellini's film, Casanova finally
finds the relationship he has been seeking in a female automaton,
sexual gratification and the perfect fantasy. Casanova is
exposed as the ultimate misogynist who craves only the external
and is happy to supply any kind of emotional bond from his
own psyche.
The film is rude, witty and grotesquely beautiful. Donald
Sutherland, for whom odd depictions or films was never a problem,
is masterful in the role of Casanova; I'd go so far as to
say its one of his best roles. He keeps the audience spellbound
for the full length of the film, never quite letting his level
of weak pomposity flag enough for the audience to have any
sympathy for the character. When Casanova ends his days as
a librarian and the butt of the castles jokes, there are few
indeed that don't feel that this was his just deserts for
a life badly spent.
Whatever
you may think of the content of the film, the visuals are
sumptuous in the extreme. In 1977 it won the Oscar and a Silver
Ribbon from the Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists
for Best Costume Design for Danilo Donati and the David di
Donatello Award for best Music for Nino Rota, The following
year it won a BAFT for Best Costume Design and Art Direction.
This
film comes as a two disc set; the first disc contains the
film itself. Sound is stereo with the choice of English, French
or Italian dialogue and subtitles. The picture quality is
very good considering the age of the film, there is no obvious
print damage that I could see, but then the film is such a
treat for the eye that you're immediately drawn into Casanova's
world. The second disc holds a Photo Gallery and two documentaries,
Casanova, Fellini and Me and The Magic of Fellini.
This might not seem like much but the first is forty-five
minutes long and a fascinating peek into both the background
to the film and the life of Donald Sutherland. The second
documentary, at nearly an hour long, should satisfy the most
ardent Fellini fan.
So,
not one of Fellini's greatest movies, but then Fellini's worst
is better than most directors best. If you're serious about
movies you should find this two disc set a real treat.
Charles
Packer
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