Casanova

One critic recently said something along the lines of "After proving his acting chops in Brokeback Mountain, Heath Ledger proves in Casanova that his earlier performance was no fluke."

What? Did we see the same movie? Or did you catch that special, we-promise-this-one's-good version??

Because what I saw was a poor mixture of insincere sentimentality, stale comedy and predictable, tired plot twists that, when none of them can hold their weight individually, add up to a shoddy whole. Sure, the costumes are pretty and the scenery (save the horrendous green-screen during the hot-air balloon scene) is nice to look at. Beyond that, Casanova is has about as much substance as a box full of bubblewrap.


I've never seen other movie versions of Casanova's story, though I'd be willing to bet they'd be better than this newest incarnation. Director Lasse Hallstrom's version starts far outside the story with an old man introducing us to the tale he's going to tell us. If your the sort of person for whom one movie set up isn't enough, you're in luck, because Hallstrom moves into a quick, ever-so-provincial look into Giacamo Casanova's (Ledger) childhood, specifically the incident where is actress mother abandons him, leaving him in his grandmother's care. In a forced moment of seriousness, his mother (Helen McCrory) tells her son she'll be back one day for him. (If you don't catch the forshadowing in this scene, you've got no business going to the movies.) Fast forward to the real "meat" of the story (finally!), Casanova's promiscuous days and a short montage of his conquests begging him for more as he runs from the Pope's inquisitors. An inexplicable friendship with the Doge of Venice (Notting Hill's Tim McInnerny) means his neck is saved this time, though the Doge insists he marry to save himself from further prosecution.

The rest of the plot is dedicated to his misguided pursuits for an engagement, complete with falling for the cross-dressing, absurdly-ahead-of-her-time upstart Francesca Bruni (Sienna Miller); assuming the identity of not one but two different people to deceive the other; and fighting off a half-dozen inquisitors as he makes his escape from the gallows. A case of mistaken identity can often lend a good dose of excitement to an otherwise quiet plot; in Casanova, however, all they do (because there are multiple) is bog down an already over-worked and over-tired story. Running just under two hours, there's an entire final scene that would have done better to stay on the editing room floor. It's painfully obvious that it only drags on so long in one last attempt to breathe life into the yawn that is the rest of the film.

I won't be so bold as to rip apart the existing plot without offering my (unsolicited) suggestions on how to improve upon it; I actually do have a few ideas. First of all, decide who's telling the story. Is it the old man (whose identity we learn at the end)? Then let's get more from his perspective (there can be that whole "So that's why he was so involved!" revelation when his identity is revealed). And as for Casanova himself? I would have been much more intrigued by a little more backstory (beyond the one they try to sell but no one's buying, that of a man looking to fill the hole in his heart left by his disappearing mum). Specifically, how did he go from being raised by his peasant grandmother to being friends with the Doge? Which women did he dupe into supporting him and how has he avoided their scorn when he moves on? And that whole "I am Woman!" idea that Bruni is pushing? It works for Gwyneth Paltrow's Viola De Lesseps in Shakespeare in Love, mainly because she's leading a personal revolution, not a gender-wide one. Burn your corsets?! I don't think my tongue could go far enough into my cheek to appreciate this, as I'm aware the filmmakers intend it to be a joke. It's just a bad one.

The single highlight of the film is that of the casting of Oliver Platt as Bruni's betrothed, lard-mogul Paprizzio. He is this generation's Oscar Levant and his comic timing in an otherwise off movie is perfect. Sienna Miller gives better perfomances to the paparazzi that flock to her (and in my opinion, should stay there and off the big screen) and Ledger, who obviously committed to Casanova long before he knew what the reception for Brokeback would be, would do better to let fiancee Michelle William's pick his scripts. As far as I can tell, the movies she makes might be small, but still of a better quality than this fodder.

Casanova might be worth renting, but even that is a big might. Ledger took a gamble doing two movies that would come out so close together. Sometimes it works (think the deluge of Jude Law in 2004) and sometimes it doesn't. Ledger lucks out, though; at least he's got Brokeback to keep his career afloat.