Hottoceame The Age of Commercialism

Cathardincu Surprisingly incoherent and boring

VeteranLight I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

MoPoshy Absolutely brilliant

Barbouzes People, please: this emperor has no clothes. I love La Dolce Vita (seen it 7 times maybe? Own the DVD at home!) and I like 8 1/2, which, though more navel-gazing, still has something universal to say, and gorgeous visuals to display; but this Casanova (like The City Of Women" before that) reeks of personal fantasies from its director, and in spite of the glowing reviews of some bizarrely entranced people on this forum, I bet very few viewers have been entertained since 1976 by Fellini's gloomy vision of a historical character who -by the way- had a zest for life and wrote about it in such glorious language that 19th century book critics thought Stendhal was the true author of those "Memoires" (I must add: golly, I did read the real Casanova memoirs, "Histoire de Ma Vie", the whole 3 volumes in French, and it was compelling.) The movie is constructed like a wild opera, with the usual cast of Fellinian grotesques romping about in extravagant costumes, on cardboard sets I did not find particularly arresting visually, while the script throws repetitive scenes at the viewer without attempt at coherence for 2 hours. It looks and feels like the bad dream of a director who hates his protagonist, or has a beef with his own sexuality, or with women, or with the men who like to please them. In the end, it is Fellini's fears we are gawking at, and Fellini's fears at this stage of his career are overexposed, with nothing original here for the viewer to chew on or relate to. Summary: I found this Casanova to be one long, tedious, depressing and empty film.

Churlie_Chitlin If you have ever found yourself watching a movie like Emmanuelle and thinking: "This would be great if it were an 18th century costume drama with less nudity and enough nightmarish surrealism to make even David Lynch weep for mercy," then this is the movie for you.Donald Sutherland plays the infamous Count Fucula, a man who tries to have sex with everything he sees that resembles a female, and whose sexual technique generally consists of laying on top of a woman and bouncing up and down on her like he's humping a trampoline - and all without ever even taking off his pants!Short girls, tall girls, blonde girls, brunettes, girls with hunchbacks, female robots.. you name it, he tries to screw it. At one point, I thought he was going to try to make it with a giant turtle. A missed opportunity, if you ask me.Until now, I thought Satyricon was the weirdest Fellini ever got, but this one makes it look square in comparison.

TheLittleSongbird I don't consider Casanova one of Fellini's best in the way I do Nights of Cabiria, La Dolce Vita, 8 1/2 and Amarcord. My main reasons for preferring those were that they moved me more and had characters that I identified with(La Strada comes under this too). With Casanova there is nothing wrong with the story, it all feels very complete and somewhat brave expecting a rather vague final scene, but I did find the title character, portrayed as pompous and quite decadent, and some of the action rather detached in emotion. However there is no denying that there is much to admire. Fellini's direction is really masterful in technical accomplishment and with the story. Nino Rota's score is a delight, mocking and characterful with the lilting sumptuous sweep. The acting is fine, Donald Sutherland does what he can with his unsympathetic character and at least shows some charisma and bravado, while the supporting cast are also very good. The pace is slow but I personally never found it dull, but it was the visuals that made Casanova. The lush cinematography, colourful costumes and striking scenery are really a stunning feast for the eyes. So all in all, not one of Fellini's best but still worth the viewing. 8/10 Bethany Cox

JasparLamarCrabb Probably Fellini's last real masterwork. CASANOVA is visually stunning and features the truly bizarre casting choice of Donald Sutherland as the world's greatest lover. Somehow that works! It may have to do with the fact that the film is so stylized. Its studio sets and intentionally fake scenery and grotesquely opulent costumes make it possible to ignore the fact that Sutherland looks like a plucked chicken. Fellini's direction is among his most spirited...he's clearly having A LOT of fun. The sex scenes are comically overdone and the women Casanova beds are a rogues gallery of ghouls --- young, old and mechanical! Tina Aumont is, for all intent and purposes, the film's leading lady and she even she is off center...and looks like a slightly less gawky Shelley Duvall.