Fellini's Casanova
Director: Federico Fellini
Year Released: 1976
Rating: 3.0
Who would have figured that the large-chest-loving Fellini would turn the life of notorious, casual-sex-advocate Casanova (Donald Sutherland) into a depressing condemnation of sexual adventurousness without mutual affection and love? The disdain for the central character - who Fellini has dressed up to look flamboyant and feminine - is ever so apparent, leaving a bit of a void in terms of dramatic potency, as yet another Fellini 'hero' is set adrift through his patented Dream World of mad individuals, elaborate sets, wild parties and flamboyant costumes (for which this justifiably won an Oscar). It doesn't become clear until the last act - when Casanova meets a 'mechanical woman' to go with his 'mechanical libido' - that he's actually to be viewed as a tragic figure (according to the director, not necessarily history): the scenes of the Venetian Lover pounding vaginas like a sweat-drenched racehorse are uncomfortably (intentionally?) funny.
