Casanova (R, 2005)

In CASANOVA, 18th-century womanizer Giacomo Girolamo Casanova (Heath Ledger) spots Francesca (Sienna Miller), lecturing in an academy, disguised as a man. Her topic: the state of heterosexual relations. When her listeners insist they will never stand for a woman among them, she whips off her wig and beard, noting, "Too late, gentlemen!" Although Casanova is soon trying to escape from guards who have been sent by his arch-enemy Pucci (Jeremy Irons), he likes feisty Francesca and sets out to win her. To evade arrest, Casanova agrees to marry the virgin Victoria (Natalie Dormer), while Francesca is promised to lard baron Papprizzio (Oliver Platt) by her impoverished mother Andrea Bruni (Lena Olin). Though Francesca despises everything she knows about Casanova, she is taken by him when he pretends to be Papprizzio. He tries to keep her away from the real Papprizzio, avoid Pucci, and charm Victoria and Andrea in order to give himself enough room to seduce Francesca.

Gaudy and giddy, this Casanova is full of energy but also strangely limp. Here the legendary lover is caught up in a swirl of Venetian activities, from pig wrangling and dueling to hot air ballooning and torturing (supposedly comedic, though associated with the Inquisition), but he's actually quite the nice fellow. Casanova's story is a juggling act and then some, but for all the flouncing and running about, it's very slow going.

Studio: Touchstone Pictures
Director: Lasse Hallstrom
Cast: Heath Ledger, Lena Olin, Sienna Miller
Genre: Drama
Run time: 108 minutes
Theatrical release: December 23, 2005
DVD release: April 25, 2006
MPAA Rating: R
MPAA explanation: some sexual content