Casanova - DVD

Set in 18th century Italy, CASANOVA’S BIG NIGHT tells the story of a tailor, played by Bob Hope, who impersonates the swashbuckling lover Casanova in order to win the affection of an attractive widow.

Casanova has accepted the Duke of Waldstein's proposal he's the librarian of the Castle of Dux, in Bohemia. At the end of his life, he begins to write his memoirs. This is where he receives Elisa von der Recke's visit, who is very interested in his manuscript. Casanova doesn't recognize in the features of this charming woman, a girl he had seduced in the past and who had wanted to die for him. The arrival of Elisa is both stimulating, the opportunity to start a new challenge (to conquer her) and threatening (he questions himself about the motivation of the traveler). Elisa raises in her host both a burst of carefree life and the lucid weariness of a tired body that fears death. Hymn to freedom and to all shenanigans, the film uses several modes of artistic expression to evoke the symbol of hedonism cinema, theater, opera, music and literature.

In the 1760s, while on the run from his legal troubles in Venice and Paris, the aging libertine Giacomo Casanova (Vincent Lindon) settled in London to try and recoup his fortunes. When he tries to ply his seductive wiles on the beautiful young Marianne de Charpillon (Stacy Martin), however, he may ultimately discover that he's the one being used. Benoît Jacquot's rich costumer also stars Valeria Golino, Nancy Tate, Julia Roy. 98 min. Widescreen; Soundtrack French; Subtitles English; theatrical trailers. In French with English subtitles.