Il Casanova di Federico Fellini (1976)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Federico Fellini

Writers:

Giacomo Casanova (autobiography "Storia della mia vita")
Federico Fellini (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

11 February 1977 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama | History | Romance

Plot:

Casanova is a libertine, collecting seductions and sexual feats. But he is really interested in someone...

Plot Keywords:

Casanova | Giant | Mother Daughter Relationship | Whale | Gentle Giant

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 5 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Donald Sutherland	...	Giacomo Casanova
Tina Aumont	...	Henriette
Cicely Browne	...	Madame D'Urfé
Carmen Scarpitta	...	Madame Charpillon
Clara Algranti	...	Marcolina
Daniela Gatti	...	Giselda
Margareth Clémenti	...	Sister Maddalena (as Margareth Clementi)
Mario Cencelli	...	Moebius
Olimpia Carlisi	...	Isabella
Silvana Fusacchia	...	Isabella's sister
Leda Lojodice	...	Rosalba the Mechanical doll (as Adele Angela Lojodice)
Sandra Elaine Allen	...	Angelina the Giantess
Clarissa Mary Roll	...	Anna Maria
Alessandra Belloni	...	Princess
Dudley Sutton	...	Duke of Wuertemberg

Also Known As:

Casanova (Italy) (short title)
Fellini's Casanova (USA)

Runtime:

155 min | 164 min (original version)

Country:

Italy | USA

Language:

Italian | French | German | English | Czech | Latin | Hungarian

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Germany:12 | Australia:R | UK:15 (DVD rating) | UK:X (original rating) | UK:15 (video rating) | Finland:K-15 (video rating) (1988) | Finland:K-18 (cinema release) | Italy:VM18 (original rating) | Italy:VM14 (re-rated) (1997) | New Zealand:R18 | Canada:18A (Ontario) | Argentina:18 (re-rating) | Argentina:X (original rating) | Finland:K-18 | Sweden:15 | USA:R | Norway:18 | France:-12 | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

Cinecittà Studios, Cinecittà, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company:

Alberto Grimaldi Productions

Trivia:

Fellini thought that Casanova was an evil character because "he did not love." The original script was very brutal on the historical figure. It wasn't until Fellini shot the scene of Casanova and the nun that he began to sympathize with Casanova's inability to love, giving him the character of the mechanical doll and the dream ending.

Quotes:

Giacomo Casanova: A man who never speaks ill of women does not love them. For to understand them and to love them one must suffer at their hands. Then and only then can you find happiness at the lips of your beloved.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Cinecittà: La casa di F. Fellini (2004) (V)

Anthony Burgess wrote the screenplay

This is actually my very favorite movie of all time. And that is odd as I distinctly was disappointed with it when I first saw it. But it has grown on me over the years. Don't see this movie thinking you'll have lightweight porn from the Ancien Regime era. This is anti porn; Casanova's amours fill Fellini with disgust and contempt as do his intellectual pretensions. I've read that the entire movie is a condemnation of the Enlightenment which Fellini depicts as a fiasco. Casanova's tireless travels also serve Fellini well as a stage for his Italocentric racism. Every race in Europe is heavily lampooned; Hungarians,the Spanish, the French, the English, and most contemptible of all, the Germans. Distinctions are even drawn clearly between the racial and cultural differences between Venetians and Romans and Savoyards...

This is Fellini's last great movie. After this he seemed to get so disgusted with the modern world that he withdrew intellectually; you see this a lot in older men. They turn away then they get out of touch. After Casanova you get City of Women and Fred and Ginger. They're all terrible, very sad to see the decrepitude of a great talent. But in Casanova we can see the great man at the very pinnacle of his powers. And even the the utmost squalour there are great beauties here to admire, for Fellini loves the visual world and expresses it in film with the most original cinematography and the most wonderful stage sets. If you can find it on DVD letterbox format don't miss buying it.