I can see Heath Ledger’s agent pitching Casanova. It was a real short pitch too: “Do this and everyone will forget about the gay cowbows!”
Tough luck. It seems Casanova barely reached 11M at the box office while Brokeback Mountain hit 8 times that. So I guess Heath will remain a gay cowboy in the public eye.
Back to the movie: the story is twisted in worst possible way. First of all, it relies on mistaken identities. Second, it takes the Casanova as we know it and kills it in the title sequence. Enter the new-and-improved Casanova, castrated beyond recognition. I think I know what’s the next project Casanova’s screenwriters are working on: Hitler, friend of Jews (working title).
Now, my irony is probably lost on a movie like this. In terms of performances: Jeremy Irons is a mess (see Merlin’s Apprentice); Heath is still not convincingly heterosexual; Sienna is so-so but at least she looks good. The rest of the cast still need to live UP to being a “support’ stuff.
If you don’t trust me, listen to Ebert:
Casanova was such a genuinely fascinating person, so tireless, seductive, brilliant, revolutionary and daring, that Hallstrom’s “Casanova” hardly does him justice. He was a magician, an author, a lawyer, the secretary to a cardinal, a politician, a violinist, invented the national lottery, was a spy and a diplomat, and has been played by Bela Lugosi, Donald Sutherland, Peter O’Toole and now by Heath Ledger, whose other current film, Brokeback Mountain, has him playing a gay cowboy, a role which eluded Casanova only because cowboys hadn’t been invented yet.
For the last several years, every period movie I see makes me go back to Barry Lyndon with a vengeance. This one is no exception. At least there Barry manages to seduce Lady Lyndon with a single (albeit long) look.
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