Product Details

• Actors: Heath Ledger, Sienna Miller, Jeremy Irons, Oliver Platt, Lena Olin
• Directors: Lasse Hallstrm
• Writers: Jeffrey Hatcher, Kimberly Simi, Michael Cristofer
• Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Touchstone Home Entertainment
• DVD Release Date: January 23, 2007
• Run Time: 111 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (102 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000J6I0U2
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #14,245 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Casanova [Blu-ray]" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

A light farce dressed up as a lush 18th century costume drama, Casanova gives a fictional spin to the exploits of history's most rakish seducer of women. As played by Heath Ledger, this Casanova bears no resemblance to Donald Sutherland's unrepentant portrayal in Fellini's Casanova, filmed 30 years earlier. Instead, the great ladies' man of Venice is just biding time by bedding women, waiting for true love (and the return his long-absent mother) to settle down into blissful monogamy. He finds true love in Francesca (Sienna Miller), a feminist who initially resists Casanova's affections while director Lasse Hallström serves up a variety of lightweight subplots including Casanova's flight from the Vatican's inquisitor (Jeremy Irons); a host of mistaken identities involving, among others, the portly "Lard King of Genoa" (played with scene-stealing perfection by Oliver Platt in a blubbery fat suit); and the romantic negotiations of Francesca's mother (played by Hallström’s wife, Lena Olin) and a young bumbler named Giovanni with his own promising future as a lover of women. It all adds up to a good-looking and harmless diversion that barely warrants an R-rating, and it makes a fine double-bill with the more enjoyable Dangerous Beauty, another Venetian lover’s tale that was also blessed by the presence of Platt, who gives this Casanova the majority of its entertainment value. --Jeff Shannon

Product Description

Embrace the sexy, scandalously funny adventure Casanova on Blu-ray Disc®. Starring Heath Ledger, the film Leonard Maltin calls "a rare delight" is a lusty feast for the senses in this rousing high definition format. After a lifetime of women falling head over heels for him, the legendary ladies’ man (Ledger) falls hopelessly in love with the one woman who wants nothing to do with him (Sienna Miller)! Witness the beauty of 18th century Venice amidst a whirlwind of comic chaos in astonishing 1080p, and thrill to the clash of swords and the beating of hearts with 5.1 48 kHz, 16-bit uncompressed audio. See, hear and feel the passion with Blu-ray™ High Definition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Carry On Casanova, July 10, 2006

By 

Amanda Richards (Georgetown, Guyana) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Casanova (DVD)

If you're old enough to have seen the "Carry On" movies the first time around, or have watched them on DVD on "oldies night", (don't worry, we're not going to ask your age) you'll see the resemblance to this funny take on the world's greatest lover. Slapstick, double entendres and misunderstandings abound, as Heath Ledger tries to fill the trousers of the legendary lothario without getting a broken back in the process.

It takes place in 1753 in Venice, a time when no woman is safe from the charms of Casanova, not even those confined to the convent. Luckily for him he has friends in the right places and escapes being strung up for debauchery (a big word which in the movie means that he shakes a lot of bedsprings without the benefit of a marriage license)

After going one conquest too far, his friend the Doge insists that Casanova get married ASAP, or face exile from Venice. Exile is not a possibility, as we learn early in the movie that he has a very good reason for sticking around, so marriage it is, and the lady to whom he pledges his troth is not only a virgin, but extremely willing to be wed. In a classic case of bad timing, he then meets the one woman worthy of his affection, and she turns out to be a cross-dressing (but only when necessary to prove a point) feminist writer who hates every bone in his body. She unfortunately is betrothed to a corpulent but very wealthy lard merchant (Oliver Platt) whom she has never set eyes on before, the union having being arranged by her late father as an insurance policy for the family fortune.

If you're still with me after all that, things get even more complicated when Jeremy Irons shows up as Inquisitor Pucci, out for the bewigged head of Casanova as a gift for the hangman's noose.

The important thing is not to attempt to take this movie seriously as a period piece, or as a factual account of the life of Casanova. It is a historically set spoof of the life and especially the times of Casanova and should be taken with a pinch of salt - or was that lard?


Amanda Richards, July 10, 2006

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning, Sexy, and Fun!, January 7, 2006

By 

RJRo20 (California) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

What a fun romantic flick about the infamous womanizer, Giacomo Casanova. Gorgeous settings, exquisite costumes, and lively music bring this wonderfully delightful story to life--not to mention the stellar cast! Heath Ledger stars, of course, with Sienna Miller, Jeremy Irons, Oliver Platt, Lena Olin, and I have to include Omid Djalili (a great comedian actor!). I'm not a big Heath Ledger fan, but I really like him in this movie--he definitely portrays the womanizer role very well. I guess "Casanova" is considered to be a 'chick flick,' but guys can get a real kick out of this movie, too. (Believe me. In the movie theater that I went to, the guys were bursting with laughter just as much as the girls were). As stated in the movie poster, this is: "A partially true story about lies told, virtue lost, and love found." I definitely recommend it to anyone looking for some great, light-hearted entertainment. Expect plenty of laughs!! Enjoy!

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Romping at the Ridotto, March 6, 2006

By 

Bambi (Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Casanova (DVD)

This is the first of Hallstrom's films that I've seen, and I gather it's by no means typical of his recent work. However, I found it immensely entertaining. It bears little reference to the Chevalier de Seingalt's life, but once you've got over that (ideally before you see it) it is highly enjoyable. The imaginative and brilliant photography of a Venice peopled with the colourful characters and costumes of the ridotto in the city's heyday makes the film worth seeing for that alone. Venice should always look this good; its inhabitants should always wear the costume of this period.

Then the acting is good and plausible. I spent some time trying to work out who it was that Heath Ledger reminded me of, and eventually realised that it was Russell Crowe, not so much in looks as something about his manner. Jeremy Irons is hilarious and others well up to par. The film was well-paced, building to a comic finale.

I think the great point is to grasp that the whole thing was clearly conceived as a sort of Commedia dell'Arte, knockabout farce with very little sex but plenty of misunderstandings, mistaken identities and laugh-out-loud moments. And, of course, love. I thought it was made in very much the manner that operas like The Marriage of Figaro or The Barber of Seville would have been conceived and performed in when they first came out - in fact it shed new light on those for me.

Not a great film - it's a bit too slight for that - but a good, well-made, highly enjoyable romp.