|
|
 |
| |
Ledger's in love
CASANOVA - Directed by Lasse Hallstrom
Certificate 12A
HEATH Ledger has a field day in this post-modern romp as
the world’s foremost ladies’ man in 18th-century Venice.
Beautifully costumed and showing Venice at its most vivid,
Casanova recites an unusual story of how he wasn’t such
a bad guy after all.
Director Lasse Hallstrom takes an ironic and firmly tongue-in-cheek
approach as we find that Casanova has a sense of humour besides
endless ways of dodging his debtors.
Beginning with the seducer as an old man penning his autobiography,
we are told that the real story of how he fell in love has never
been brought to light, that of Casanova’s true love Francesca.
True to form, he is escaping from a nun’s boudoir and trying
to outrun the Inquisition. The Doge (a wonderful turn by Tim
McInnerny) rather likes him and so allows him his freedom on
one condition: that he marries as soon as possible or have Venice
closed to him forever.
Chasing a ‘rare’ Venetian virgin, Casanova finds one
in Victoria (Natalie Dormer), until she turns out to be made
of pure lust. Across the way, a widow (Lena Olin) and an advanced
intellectual beauty called Francesca (Sienna Miller) watch the
romance with interest.
It turns out that Francesca’s brother loves Victoria and,
when challenging Casanova to a duel, Francesca steps in to save
her brother with her advanced knowledge of swordplay.
Casanova, rather than being a moralistic film on the evils of
promiscuity, turns into a tale of pursuit, mistaken identity
and probably more laughs than it should have, thanks mostly
to Oliver Platt’s portrayal of a king who swans into town
to marry Francesca herself.
Extra witty dialogue supplied uncredited by Tom Stoppard, adds
to the glee. |
|
|
|
