Customer Reviews

Fellini's Casanova [ PAL ] [ Region 5 ] [ Imoprt ]

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Where else could you expect to see Donald Sutherland, Chesty Morgan, Dudley Sutton, a hunchbacked nymphomaniac, a couple of dwarves, numerous Germans on giant stools playing organs and a bloke from Are You Being Served? playing the world's greatest lover's brother than a Fellini film? Even Ken Russell could only enviously dream of such a line up. Fellini's Casanova - or to give it its more appropriate literal translation, The Casanova of Federico Fellini owes more to the Confessions and Carry On films in its treatment of sex than eroticism or even its antihero's own self-aggrandizing memoirs, but pretty much delivers everything you'd expect from latter Fellini: grand, often deliberately artificially theatrical design, over the top performances and tatty decadence on a grand scale.

In Donald Sutherland's vainglorious and ineffectual Casanova, he also has his most pathetic central character, a man with aspirations but no great genius who is reduced to little more than a performing seal by those who see through his own pretensions in an age where instant gratification is all anyone thinks about but can never really achieve. He's not much of a lover, his education and intellect rarely aspire higher than the groin and no-one pays much attention to anything he has to say - not just the perfect 70s hero but also possibly the most vicious self-portrait of an artist since Joseph Conrad poured all his self-loathing into Verloc in The Secret Agent. It's hard not to see the director's own fear that he too will be remembered as a pathetic self-parody successful only in the most trivial of his endeavours, only able to find some small delusion of fulfilment in dreams and automatons.

Fremantle's 2-disc UK PAL DVD is a pretty decent presentation, offering Italian, English and French soundtracks, which is handy because Sutherland's performance is better dubbed into Italian than in the English-language version where he uses his own voice rather unconvincingly, something the star is quite open about in the surprisingly good 45-minute interview with him on the second disc, 'Casanova, Fellini and Me.' Also included are a 53-minute documentary on Fellini and a stills gallery.

movie = *****
dvd = **

I have been a huge fan of Fellini, and especially his later works, for nearly 25 years. Fellini's Casanova has always held a special place in my heart. When I was going to film school in NYC in the 90s there were rerun houses and at least two or three times a year this film would pop up in one of them, and I would always see it. No matter what. As with many of Fellini's films, it has some very odd pacing, and sometimes feels exhausting. But if you are a fan of his ambiguous, poetic, magical style, the pleasures quite outweigh the moments of restlessness.

Anyway, I had read some very good reviews of this dvd and was extremely excited to see it. All in all, I am quite disappointed. It seems to be a very low resolution digitization, and the levels have been altered brutally. Whereas the vhs I was able to track down about 10 years ago was too dark, this one has it's levels pumped too much! It seems almost over-exposed at times, and the colors are unnaturally brightened. It seems like a very cheaply done job.

That said, it has several audio versions, which is great. And the documentaries on the second dvd were absolutely wonderful. So it's well worth the money, but I still can't wait for somebody to do a good job with the picture quality.

This, along with City of Women, is one of Fellini's most underrated films, and one of his least seen. It's virtually disappeared from cinema circles, and has never been released on home video in North America. It was made in 1976 as his follow up to his Oscar winning Amarcord. It's one of his most visually ravishing films, amazingly surreal. It feels like a trip through the consciousness of Cassanova more than an actual film about him. It's quite striking.

It was shot entirely on a soundstage, and you can see it in both English language versions (which I believe it was originally shot in English; that's how I saw it), or a dubbed Italian version (this version actually air on Sundance channel occasionally). Sutherland is quite good as the title character, in one of his most interesting and fascinating performances. Sutherland and Fellini famously didn't get along, and Fellini had a contempt for Cassanova, finding him more of a playboy and a child unwilling to grow up. Sutherland may have thought that Fellini was taking out his anger on him. Sutherland's makeup is quite garish at times, and it took him many long hours to put it on. So Sutherland was quite exhausted by the end of the shoot, and recounts his experience in the documentary Fellini: I'm a Born Liar.

This film did poorly at the box office in both Italy and around the world, and was quite an expensive failure. It's a shame, because despite the somewhat troubled production, Fellini's Cassanova is quite a visual feast, even for Fellini. I would love to see this film on North America DVD. It's hardly ever been seen since its release.

Back when this was completely unavailable in the U.S., I bought a PAL version for my region-free DVD player. I was glad to see the movie, but since then have learned that there is a better French version DVD. I bought this thinking it would surpass the other edition I had, since it was newer. It did not. The colors and sets do not stand out as greatly as they should. I would recommend waiting for a remastered edition of Casanova.

Warning: the item description states this is PAL, as opposed to NTSC format. That means unless you have a DVD player capable of playing a PAL disc you will have poor or no results. I have a region-free player, and it worked just fine on that.

First at all I would like to underline this is the first non personal project of FEFE. Casanova walks parallel paths respect Don Juan, one of the most emblematic western myths; in the same tradition of , this personage has nourished the imagination, sensuality and voluptuousness of countless generations since then.

And so we find Fellini dealing with a script that fitted him as ring to finger; because in fact the raw material of this enviable seducer was approached from three levels; the first one, as lover of so many women, is mirrored with all its nakedness; so obviously we will witness the lover, the narcissist, the creator of fables, the cheater, the bad son (the dialogue with his mother is astonishingly expressed in that unforgettable of the last farewell of his mother into the large coach, his inner demons, obsessions, surrealistic bad dreams but above all his thirst of power, by being recognized as philosopher, thinker, avid of power. The second level is the admirable and unique design of so many outstanding stages to underline these were times of notorious decadence, where Giacomo was just a part of the engine; the unbearable sequence in which we watch five organists playing at the same time a sort of delirious dissonances that reflect the lustful unbridle of the senses, surrounded of sinister and weird personages, but the third level was to me the personal touch of genius when Fellini decides to convey uis the delirious circus world, that for him works out as the perfect device to make a breakthrough with we might call the linearity of the script. As all of us aware the circus is so strongly linked with our memories because it's an appendix of the mythic unconscious that reaffirms the attributes of our childhood where everything is permitted, an universe without restrictions, so through this admirable device he will explore the delirious tall woman that in good measure it brings us back to 8 1/2 (the presence of the woman in three facets; as the alluring lover, the elusive obsession and finally the first Freudian memory; the mother. It's not a mere casualty Federico has been the freest director of the world thanks or due this fact. Since these days of Night of Cabiria or La strada , La dolce Vita, 8 ½ , Giulietta of spirits and The city of women seem to confirm it.

So you must get ready to get inside a magical and mysterious tour, a mesmerizing universe of huge proportions, disconnects and abrupt contrasts with the reality, perhaps there has not been any other film capable to express with major fearlessness the enraptured images of fertile imagination, engaging fantasy, in which the theater is invited too and so to bring us again the ultimate aim of the movies; the mirror to trespass and leave behind our quotidian reference frame and to join with Casanova when affirms that: " A kiss is the desire to loose ourselves in the soul of the loved woman."

A tour de force film where poetry and art and will convey us to other latitudes, specially in that poetic final sequined.

Don't miss it!

Fellini's Casanova is a film that will bring the viewer into a mystical and surrealistic world of the famous lover from Venice. In addition to having a reputation as a lover that follows him throughout Europe, Casanova is also a poet, artist, mathematician, and philosopher. If that isn't enough to have an alluring aura, he is also a nobleman that dabbles in alchemy and the occult.

Although Casanova is an interesting character, he seems to attract just as many unusual people and experiences. In every instance, it just about always inevitably leads to some bedroom romp. His travels across Europe take him to the courts of many countries and unusual women somehow gravitate toward him like a magnate. From a woman pretending to be a nun in a mysterious palace on an island to a woman machine (robot) that is the amusement of the royal court, Casanova doesn't seem to have any problem getting himself into such unusual experiences. But in all the wondering Casanova does, one cannot but help think there is something empty in his life.

This film is musical, theatrical, and filled with amazing 18th century costumes. This is a movie that you will not forget anytime soon after watching it, as it is so atypical. As it is also filled with deeper meaning, if one looks for it anyway, Fellini's Casanova is one that can be watched again and again. I would recommend this movie the most for those who enjoy world cinema or art films, as it does not have any of the ingredients of a mainstream movie.

This is not a region 1 DVD. It is a region 9, which is supposed to be all formats (huh?) However, it doesn't work on my region 1 player, but does work on my laptop without changing region. Could be my dvd player, which is kind of old, but heads up.

Brilliant film, of course...perhaps my favorite Fellini film...but I'm not sure they make it clear enough that this is a PAL UK disc that will not play on Region 1 players...

This is one of the darkest, if not the darkest, of Fellini's films, and also one of the most beautiful. With "Casanova", Fellini transplanted "Satyricon" into 18th century Europe. The sets, sumptuous and stunning, are peopled with visually flambuoyant characters in whichever court or city Casanova happens to be stationed in. The stormy sea made of black plastic sheets, which Casanova rows across, is genius! Owls are featured as set pieces; the "owl music box" in particular, functions as a voyeur of Casanova's various sex scenes. The over-the-top eroticism is completely appropriate for the Swinging Seventies, although I imagine there would have been "censorship issues" connected with this picture's release in the USA. Donald Sutherland is an androgynous Casanova, whose bemused expression reminds me of Tim Curry in "The Rocky Horror Picture Show"; "Casanova" is a great showcase for Sutherland, especially when one sees the contrast between the young, confident Casanova, and the old, embittered one. As Casanova proceeds further into Northern Europe, aging in the process, the atmosphere of the film turns colder, grayer, and snowier. He encounters his cruel, disabled mother in Dresden, who complains that he has neglected her, and that he lives in a fool's paradise. His mother is as ghostly as Dicken's Miss Havisham, in this scene that could be seen as a hallucination, or as a daytime nightmare.

After the cursed encounter with his mother, the last 27 minutes of the picture become increasingly depressing. Casanova takes up residence in several wild, dysfunctional Northern European courts in Germany, Norway and Sweden. In the process, he becomes a man who is mocked, derided, and disrespected. Despite his many amorous encounters and occasional romantic relationships, he ends up old and alone, with only his fantasies; in particular the fantasy of Rosalba, the anatomically-correct real-life size female doll. Rosalba represents the return of the repressed, elucidating Casanova's obsession with sex as sport; he pays the price for choosing the sensual life over the intellectual life. The connection between Casanova's cruel, unloving mother, and the mechanical doll, is obvious: Rosalba is Casanova's mother (the two of actually them resemble each other). The end of this film is both sad and creepy; the lesson here, in Casanova's case, is "be careful what you wish for". The strange and haunting score was composed by Fellini's longtime collaborator, maestro Nino Rota; it features an abundance of minor keys and mournful, melancholy melodies with a generous garnish of whimsy.

Stephen C. Bird, author of "Hideous Exuberance: A Satire"

After waiting many years for this DVD to be released in US format I received it to find that it would only play in black and white and there was no option for the english language version I saw in the theater and have on VHS. In addition subtitles drop off the bottom of the screen and even the black and white picture is very poor. All and all a coplete disappointment. I'll wait for Criterion to release a version. Steer clear of this version.