Maybe, not the best film about Casanova. but one of the most seductive. for the performances and for the recreation of atmosphere and for the inspired bridge between the work of David Tennant and Peter O ' Toole. a film about love. or, more exactly, about life. bitter, nostalgic, full of beautiful flavors, host and ironic, precise and moving portrait of Casanova looking not for events but for the essence of a man behind masks.

This is the second Casanova movie to come out in 2005. It's hard to say which one is better, because although they have the same main character, the approach is very different. Here, Casanova is portrayed as a man constantly in love. A hopeless romantic, one could say. The evolution of the character is handled beautifully: in the beginning of the movie he's just a young boy, trying to find himself, developing slowly into a confident man, to the end, when he's a bitter old man, who stopped dreaming. The direction is certainly memorable, shocking in some places, but the true asset of this movie is David Tennant. He's a spectacular actor, and (being an avid Doctor Who fan) I expected to watch this movie and say: "Look, there's the Doctor.", but he just detached himself from any previous role and he just was Casanova. I really ended up loving this movie because of his beautiful portrayal. There's of course Peter O'Toole who was just as brilliant, in portraying old Casanova. Also, this is the first movie I've seen with two actors playing the same part -young and old- in which I could see the same character. Sure, O'Toole's Casanova is bitter and old, but you can see Tennant's Casanova developing into that person. It's a movie definitely worth seeing. If you can't find the DVD, maybe you'll be lucky and catch it on BBC.

I'm absolutely dumbstruck by some of the reviews I've read here. The only explanation I can come up with is that most reviewers are unfamiliar with the historic Giacomo Casanova, and have never seen any of the vastly superior treatments of his story (such as "La Nuit de Varennes"). One of the reviewers even describes it as being about a man from the "17th century". Off by a hundred years, I'm afraid, which is roughly as far off as this movie is from either a well-done biographical film or a historically-accurate one. No, it's Hollywood (or rather, the British approximation of it) through and through.This version is, in reality, a "Casanova" for the "Sex and the City" and "Men Behaving Badly" crowd; all winks and nudges and brash cheekiness. David Tenant is amusing, but absolutely lacking in charisma or depth, much less skill. In fact, he bears an uncanny resemblance to the bumbling characters that Eric Idle used to play. Peter O'Toole does an over-the-top caricature of himself; a role he seems to have been relegated to for the past 25 years. Sad, really. The rest of the cast seems to have been assembled from whoever was hanging around the studio that day, as they obviously weren't chosen for their verisimilitude or subtlety.But the story is far the worst thing about this flick. The dialog is farcical, the plot is boilerplate, there are countless historical mistakes. For example, Casanova fires a pistol into the air to threaten a group of men, and says he'll shoot them next. Problem is, all pistols were single-shot for another hundred years; it would've actually taken him another 2 minutes to reload another shot; any man of the time would've known that! They also dance the waltz; something that didn't appear in Venice for another 50 years. I was surprised to not see Casanova riding a motorcycle while chatting on his mobile phone."Casanova" isn't above trying to titillate by teasing us with an "is she/isn't she" shtick about a mulatto castrato that Casanova "falls in love with". But of course, after playing around with the faux-mosexual aspect, surprise! -it's a girl after all, so the audience can all heave a sigh of relief at Casanova's good fortune. But the real Casanova was well-known to be bisexual (look it up on Wikipedia), although actually having the nerve to show that here seems to be beyond the film-maker's integrity, the audience's stomach, or (most likely) both.The dialog swings between maudlin (when Casanova offers to rescue his prison cell-mate, he responds "but I can't leave; this is my home!") and stand-up comedy, as when Casanova makes his confession and rattles off a laundry list of the women he's slept with ("two sisters, at the same time. Many times. But at least I didn't sleep with their mother. Although I've done that. Many times. So sorry.") And I mustn't forget to mention that the sappy string synthesizers in the incidental music would be right at home in a third-rate soap opera. It's sad to see "Casanova" dumbed down this far. It's sadder still to see it overpraised by people who don't know the historic and literary Giacomo Casanova from Nathan Barley.

Russell T. Davies's "Casanova" is a biopic of the real-life ladies-man from 17th century Venice, the infamous Giacomo Casanova. The 2-part series uses the real Giacomo Casanova's biography "The story of my life" as frame-work. The story is told by Casanova himself (Peter O'Toole), at the age of 73 when he was employed as a librarian for a wealthy nobleman. The aged Casanova tells his story to the curious servant-girl Edith (Rose Byrne) whose father told her tales of Casanova and all his adventures. David Tennant of 'Doctor Who' fame plays the young Casanova, and Shaun Parkes his loyal side-kick, Rocco. By 1750 the real Casanova had worked as a clergyman, secretary, soldier, spy, and violinist and bedded some 122 women. Davies's series touches on Casanova's talents, but at the heart of the old cad's story is his love for the one woman he could never have; Henriette (Laura Fraser), who was engaged to a nobleman in Venice when she and Casanova first meet, and then the two were torn apart when Casanova was imprisoned in 1775. After his famous escape in 1756, the story follows Casanova, Rocco and one of Casanova's many bastard children as they travel around Europe looking for legal pardon while meeting the greatest men and women of the day.Russell T. Davies is fast making a name for himself; having written for cult television shows like "Queer as Folk" and the current series of "Doctor Who", "Casanova" is another triumph for Davies. The writing is fresh and witty, and extremely well delivered by the irrevocably charming David Tennant, who passes well for the infamous 17th century cad. The best part of the series is the costumes and sets – absolutely over the top and fabulously colorful outfits with modern twists coupled with dazzling, spectacularly lavish sets. It really is a welcome eye-ful."Casanova" is an absolutely wonderful 2-part series written by the up and coming Russell T. Davies and starring one of Scotland's best new commodities, David Tennant. Definitely worth a watch.