Favourite Movie Review

From left to right: Oliver Platt, Sienna Miller, Heath Ledger, Jeremy Irons, Lena Olin

Two different posters for the movie "Casanova"

1753, Venice; a city full of romance and the home to Casanova (Heath Ledger) – a womaniser, hunted down by the Roman inquisition for his rakish lifestyle. One day, he is set an ultimatum by the Doge (Tim McInnerny) – he is either to leave Venice forever, or to get married before Carnival was over. Hesitantly, Casanova begins to look out for a suited bride, and decides to marry the beautiful and innocent Victoria (Natalie Dormer). Soon after the proposal to Victoria, Casanova falls head over heels in love with Francesca Bruni (Sienna Miller), a woman who is very interested in the sciences, and who is against the womanising nature of Casanova. She is already promised to someone else, however Casanova puts in every effort to make Francesca fall for him – this is made difficult by the inquisition and their leader, Bishop Pucci (Jeremy Irons), who is determined to execute Casanova and put an end to his womanising ways. In the end, Francesca and Casanova seem to have reached the end of their life.

The cast of "Casanova"

Natalie Dormer as Victoria

The movie “Casanova” is a romantic-comedy, released in 2005, and was directed by Lasse Hallström, produced by Touchstone Pictures. The movie made $37,691,644 in the box office. The movie soundtrack was rewritten by Alexandre Desplat, however some of the songs the soundtrack included were Concerto Grosso in D Minor, Op 3 No 11 (Vivaldi) or Concerto No 1 in C Major (Paisiello). The film did not seem to win any awards, and has been given a film score of 44% on the website “Rotten Tomatoes” . Filming began on the 9th of July, 2004, and was released on the 3rd of September, 2005. The visual effects of the movie were created by Custom Film Effects and Illusion Arts, and the period-costumes were supplied by Tirelli Costumi, Nicolao Atelier, Costumi d'Arte, G.P.11, L.C.P di Pompei, and Sastreria Cornejo. Most of the scenes were filmed in Venice, however some were filmed in Vicenza, like the Teatro Olimpico.

Teatro Olimpico in Vinceza

This movie counts as one of my favourites because I am absolutely in love with the scenery of this movie. I like the story as well, and brings out the hopeless romantic in me, however seeing the houses, canals, markets, and so forth, just makes me fall in love with Venice more and more. The Venetian Carnival portrayed in the movie also looks like a lot of fun, with all the costumes. It also counts as one of my favourites because I feel that Heath Ledger plays the part of Casanova so well. Another reason why this is one of my favourite movies is because I absolutely love historical/period-based movies.

I would recommend this movie to others who have an interest in historical movies, and who also have an interest in romantic-comedy movies that don't revolve around high school dramas. I think it's worth a watch – it might not be for everyone, but I think it's great.

"My mistress says the pig may not come in, but the animal, we'll take."

"You have sullied my glove- I mean, uh, love! My love!"

"What did we do that for?"

"I don't know"