Casanova (DVD, 2006)

"Casanova" is a delightful comic farce that uses a period setting for an amusing cross between "The Princess Bride," "Much Ado About Nothing" and the spirit of "The Marriage of Figaro" (not at all "Don Giovanni" that is based on the same legend).

Director Lasse Hallström gets the romantic romp tone right here, compared to what he did not achieve in "Chocolat." He establishes from the opening that this is just fun opera buffo, with frequent sight gags and commedia dell'arte troupes and Punch and Judy-type puppet shows broadly commenting on the action, though it took four writers to stitch together the broad double entendres and winks at Shakespeare, from, appropriately, "Merchant of Venice", to "The Merry Wives of Windsor" to "Taming of the Shrew."

Heath Ledger has grown up since he first demonstrated he had the light touch for romantic comedy in the teen version of "Shrew," "10 Things I Hate About You," and he's much more confident now. One of the cute conceits of the film is that the women are the aggressors, especially the virgins and novices. As the title character, he modestly claims that his success is solely due to his ability to submit. While he's not particularly leonine in the frequent shots of him lounging on a divan, he is dashing as he runs around Venice taking on several different mistaken identities. If his clinch with Jake Gyllenhaal in "Brokeback Mountain" wouldn't already qualify him for an MTV Best Kiss this year, the big one with Sienna Miller could earn a nomination.

Miller is a bit young for her role as a Portia-like "transvestite" philosopher defending the rights of women, but her youth makes her brash earnestness seem more charmingly naïve. As her lively mother, Lena Olin provides the older woman ballast, without the usual sex-starved widow stereotypes.

Oliver Platt should be signed immediately to do a major production of "Falstaff," as he deftly and physically plays that character type, here a lard mogul representative of mercantile Genoa, even more deliciously and sympathetically than he has in "Ice Harvest" and "Huff."

Jeremy Irons has fun playing the Inquisitor, representing religious Rome, whose purple robes fit right in at a carnivale masquerade ball.

The look of the film helps enormously, with the best use of Venice as a sensuously unique setting since "Dangerous Beauty," not just for the usual gondolas and canals, but the steps, plazas, architecture, roofs, narrow streets, alleys and the light. The wigs and costumes are wonderfully colorful.

The marvelous stitching together of Baroque music keeps the mood merry, with overtures and dances from eight Jean-Philippe Rameau operas, six Italian composers, including of course Vivaldi, as well as snatches of Handel and Telemann added at appropriate water and fireworks moments.

What a great movie! I was pleasantly surprised when I saw this movie at the Theater and knew that I would add it to my collection at home. Of course, the only way to buy new, recent or any movie for that matter, is on Ebay! Great movie that comes highly recommended if you want light entertainment with great performances by all of the cast. Oliver Platt is just priceless. With Heath Ledger and Sienna Miller turning in surprisingly good performances as well.

I saw this film on tv and it immediately became one of my favorites. The story line is easy to follow with a nice blend of light humor and romance. This film tells the story of the great lover, casanova, who is played by Heath Ledger. Heath ledger has a standout performance as well as pretty much all of the other main characters. There was a scene or two they didnt show on tv that made the film that much better. Recommended.

If you love Heath Ledger as I do; you will love this movie; he is his usual engaging cute self, always a good actor, but never better than when in period movie such as this one. I started watching just because of him, but continued to watch because of the interesting plot and other actors. Very satisfying; light comedic action.

I bought this to complete my research on Heath Ledger's films. I was so surprised by the sophistication and the humorous side of this film. It was outrageous in an adult sort of way. Great story with a happy ending. Much like the films of old. The only one I think where Ledger doesn't actually die in the last scene. You could tell he really enjoyed this film and I had to watch the extra footage of the scenes and staging over and over. It was actually made in Venice and the age of the story fits the age of the scenes. It was the best in my opinion of Ledgers more adult films. He grew up to be a wonderful actor and this left me with both sadness at his loss and happiness that he had reached this level of performance before his untimely death.