Critics at the time of release commented that Fellini didn't seem to like his main character Casanova which was rather odd since the film was supposedly about the life of Casanova. Fellini's Casanova is a rather empty film especially for a director like Fellini whose films are usually the "life is a carnival" thing.
Fellini's Casanova was his follow up to Amarcord which had been a big commercial and critical success. Where that film was upbeat and funny this is one dour and cold film. It probably didn't help Fellini's Casanova that the film was shot entirely in the studio. This gave the film a phoney but I will have to say an interesting look. Fellini always had the best cameramen and set designers working on his film.
As was the process with a lot of Fellini's later films, the actors didn't actually have dialog to speak, the were instructed by Fellini to just say numbers after which he would dub in the dialog. Fellini frequently worked from a story outline with out a fully prepared script which tended to make his later films more a series of episodes rather than a fully realized story.
Fellini's Casanova seems to be primarly about the sex life of Casanova, but in this film all the silly sex scenes aren't presented as much fun. The point seems to be that Casanova's hedonistic lifestyle was extremely unfulfilling and empty. Well whatever, the film does have a few interesting scenes and it does look good.
155 minutes.
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