, image = Casanova_moviep.jpg , caption = Italian theatrical release poster , director = Federico Fellini , producer = Alberto Grimaldi , screenplay = Federico Fellini
Bernardino Zapponi , based_on = , starring =

Donald Sutherland Donald McNichol Sutherland (born 17 July 1935) is a Canadian actor whose film career spans over six decades. He has been nominated for nine Golden Globe Awards, winning two for his performances in the television films '' Citizen X'' (1995) a ...

, music =

Nino Rota Giovanni Rota Rinaldi (; 3 December 1911 – 10 April 1979), better known as Nino Rota (), was an Italian composer, pianist, conductor and academic who is best known for his film scores, notably for the films of Federico Fellini and Luchino Visco ...

, cinematography =

Giuseppe Rotunno Giuseppe Rotunno (19 March 1923 – 7 February 2021) was an Italian cinematographer. Biography Sometimes credited as Peppino Rotunno, he was director of photography on eight films by Federico Fellini. He collaborated with several celebrated Ita ...

, editing =

Ruggero Mastroianni Ruggero Mastroianni (7 November 1929 – 9 September 1996) was an Italian film editor. In his obituary of Mastroianni, critic Tony Sloman described him as "arguably, the finest Italian film editor of his generation." Born in Turin, he was the b ...

, studio =

Produzioni Europee Associate Produzioni Europee Associati (P.E.A) is a production company founded in 1962 by Alberto Grimaldi to produce international co-productions. It released its first feature film '' The Shadow of Zorro'' (''L'ombra di Zorro'') in December that year. Its ...

, distributor =

Titanus Titanus is an Italian film production company, founded in 1904 by Gustavo Lombardo (1885–1951). The company's headquarters are located at 28 Via Sommacampagna, Rome and its studios on the Via Tiburtina, 13 km from the centre of Rome. Lom ...

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...

, released = , runtime = 155 minutes , country =

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, language = , budget = ''Fellini's Casanova'' ( it, Il Casanova di Federico Fellini, lit=The Casanova by Federico Fellini) is a 1976

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

erotic historical

romance film Romance films or movies involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typically their journey ...

directed by Federico Fellini from a screenplay by himself and Bernardino Zapponi, adapted from the autobiography of 18th-century Venetian adventurer and writer

Giacomo Casanova Giacomo Girolamo Casanova (, ; 2 April 1725 – 4 June 1798) was an Italian adventurer and author from the Republic of Venice. His autobiography, (''Story of My Life''), is regarded as one of the most authentic sources of information about the c ...

, portrayed by

. The film depicts Casanova's life as a journey into sexual abandonment, and his relationship with the “love of his life” Henriette (played by

Tina Aumont Maria Christina "Tina" Aumont (February 14, 1946 – October 28, 2006) was an American actress. She was the daughter of French actor Jean-Pierre Aumont and Dominican actress Maria Montez. She made her acting debut in the British film ''Modesty Bl ...

). The narrative presents Casanova's adventures in a detached, methodical fashion, as the respect for which he yearns is constantly undermined by his more basic urges. Shot entirely at the

Cinecittà Cinecittà Studios (; Italian for Cinema City Studios), is a large film studio in Rome, Italy. With an area of 400,000 square metres (99 acres), it is the largest film studio in Europe, and is considered the hub of Italian cinema. The studios we ...

studios in Rome, the film won an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

for Best Costume Design, with the Oscar going to

Danilo Donati Danilo Donati (6 April 1926 - 1 December 2001) was an Italian costume designer and production designer. He won the Academy Award for Best Costume Design twice: the first time for his work in ''Romeo and Juliet'' (1968), the second time for his w ...

. Fellini and his co-writer Bernardino Zapponi were nominated for a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar. The film also won

BAFTA Award The British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTA Film Awards is an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to honour the best British and international contributions to film. The cer ...

s for Best Costume Design and Best Production Design, and a David di Donatello for Best Score.

Plot

Casanova visits one of Venice's islands to copulate with a fake nun for the pleasure of a rich

voyeur Voyeurism is the sexual interest in or practice of watching other people engaged in intimate behaviors, such as undressing, sexual activity, or other actions of a private nature. The term comes from the French ''voir'' which means "to see". ...

. Casanova is frustrated that the man finds no interest in his research into

alchemy Alchemy (from Arabic: ''al-kīmiyā''; from Ancient Greek: χυμεία, ''khumeía'') is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in China, India, the Muslim world, ...

and his further scheming. As he rows back to the mainland, Casanova is arrested, judged and imprisoned by the High Court over his famed debauchery. During his time in prison, Casanova reminisces of his affairs with a dressmaker and later on with one of her junior employees, Anna Maria, who suffers from frequent fainting and requires constant

bloodletting Bloodletting (or blood-letting) is the withdrawal of blood from a patient to prevent or cure illness and disease. Bloodletting, whether by a physician or by leeches, was based on an ancient system of medicine in which blood and other bodily flu ...

. Casanova escapes the prison through the roof and exiles himself from Venice, being taken into the

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

court of Madame d'Urfé. The Madame, an aged woman, enthralled by Casanova's apparent knowledge of alchemy, wishes to transform her soul into a man's through ritualistic intercourse with him. Fortuitously, Casanova encounters his brother, whose girlfriend he entices away. Casanova then moves to the court of a hunchback, Du Bois, in between taking charge of a beautiful girl, Henriette. The lovers vow fidelity to each other, but the following morning Henriette has disappeared. Du Bois informs Casanova that an emissary of a faraway court has reclaimed Henriette, and she has requested that Casanova not attempt to follow her. While in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, Casanova is robbed by two women and he attempts suicide by drowning himself in the

Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

. A vision of a giantess and two dwarves distracts him; he follows them to a

frost fair The River Thames frost fairshttps://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details/collection_image_gallery.aspx?assetId=599805001&objectId=3199037&partId=1 Erra Paters Prophesy or Frost Faire 1684/3 were held on th ...

, where he arm-wrestles the giantess—a princess—and later pays to watch her bathe with the dwarves. Casanova attends a deranged party at Lord Talou's palace in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, where he wins a bet over how many orgasms he can have in one hour. In Switzerland he falls in love with an alchemist's daughter, Isabella, who fails to keep an appointment to go to

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...

with him; Casanova instead partakes in an orgy within the hostel he's been stranded in. In Dresden, he has a brief chance encounter with his estranged mother in a theater. He then moves to a court in

Württemberg Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart. Together with Baden and Hohenzollern, two other historical territories, Württ ...

, where his desire to be taken seriously as a writer/inventor is frustrated by the court's orgiastic, wild nature. It is here that he meets Rosalba, a mechanical doll with whom he shares a dance and later on has sex with. Time goes by and an old Casanova finds himself librarian to Count Waldstein at his castle in Dux. Life at the castle is more than frustrating for Casanova, as he becomes an object of mockery and animosity. The final scene has a weary, bloodshot Casanova cringing in an armchair and recounting a recent dream. In this dream, Casanova is back in Venice. He chases the ghosts of his past lovers, all of whom disappear. An ornate stagecoach beckons him to join its passengers. He finally meets with Rosalba, the mechanical doll, once again and they dance with each other.

Cast

as Henriette * Cicely Browne as Madame d'Urfé *

Carmen Scarpitta Carmen Scarpitta (26 May 1933 – 26 April 2008) was an Italian stage and film actress. She appeared in 30 films between 1960 and 2001. Scarpitta was born in Hollywood, California. She debuted on stage in 1960 in Alessandro Manzoni's ''Adel ...

as Madame Charpillon * Clara Algranti as Marcolina * Daniela Gatti as Giselda * Margareth Clementi as Sister Maddalena * Mario Cencelli as Dr. Mobius * Silvana Fusacchia as Isabella *

Olimpia Carlisi Olimpia Carlisi (born 29 December 1946) is an Italian stage, film and television actress. Career Carlisi was born in Campi Bisenzio, Florence, on 29 December 1946. After her debut as a stage actress, she made her film debut working with Roberto ...

as Isabella's sister * Leda Lojodice as Rosalba, the mechanical doll * Sandra Elaine Allen as Angelina the Giantess * Clarissa Mary Roll as Anna Maria *

Daniel Emilfork Daniel Emilfork (7 April 1924 – 17 October 2006) was a Chilean stage and film actor who made his career in France. Biography Emilfork was born in San Felipe, Chile after his Jewish socialist parents from Kiev fled a pogrom in Odessa. A ...

as the Marquis Du Bois * Dudley Sutton as the

Duke of Württemberg Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ranke ...

John Karlsen John Karlsen, sometimes credited as Charles John Karlsen or John Karlson (20 October 1919 – 5 July 2017), was an actor from New Zealand who was active in cinema between 1958 and 2003. He is best known for ''Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure' ...

as Lord Talou *

Reggie Nalder Reggie Nalder (born Alfred Reginald Natzler; 4 September 1907 – 19 November 1991) was a prolific Austrian film and television character actor from the late 1940s to the early 1990s. His distinctive features—partially the result of disfigur ...

as Faulkircher *

Harold Innocent Harold Sidney Innocent (18 April 1933 – 12 September 1993) was an English actor who appeared in many film and television roles. After attending Broad Street Secondary Modern School in Coventry, Innocent worked for a short time as an office c ...

as Count of St. Germain * Marika Rivera as Astrodi * Alessandra Belloni as Princess *

Diane Kurys Diane Kurys (; born 3 December 1948) is a French director, producer, filmmaker and actress. Several of her films as director are semi-autobiographical. Personal life Kurys was born in Lyon, Rhône, France, the younger of two daughters. She is ...

as Madame Charpillon's daughter *

Dan van Husen Dan van Husen (30 April 1945 – 31 May 2020) was a German actor. He started his career in the 1960s, playing in a number of Spaghetti Westerns (usually he was cast as the bad guy), and also performed in Italian and German films by renowned dire ...

as Viderol *

Mary Marquet Mary Marquet (born Micheline Marguerite Delphine Marquet; 14 April 1895 – 29 August 1979) was a French stage and film actress. Career Marquet came from a family of artists: her parents were actors, an aunt was a star dancer at the Paris Ope ...

Zanetta Farussi Zanetta Farussi, known as " La Buranella" (27 August 1707, Venice – 29 November 1776, Dresden), was an Italian comedic actress. Her eldest son was the famous adventurer Giacomo Casanova. Biography Born Maria Giovanna Farussi, her father, Girol ...

, Casanova’s mother * Nicholas Smith as

Francesco Giuseppe Casanova Francesco Giuseppe Casanova (1 June 1727, London – 8 July 1803, near Mödling) was an Italian painter who specialised in battle scenes. His older brother was Giacomo Casanova, the famous adventurer, and his younger brother was Giovanni Casan ...

, Casanova’s brother

Production

''Fellini’s Casanova'' is noted for its symbolic, highly stylised '' mise en scène'' and the casting of

in the lead role. Fellini's dislike of the character was well documented, and in one interview he even referred to exposing "the void" of Casanova's life. Producer

Dino De Laurentiis Agostino "Dino" De Laurentiis (; 8 August 1919 – 10 November 2010) was an Italian-American film producer. Along with Carlo Ponti, he was one of the producers who brought Italian cinema to the international scene at the end of World War II. He ...

suggested Robert Redford in the role of Casanova but Fellini refused to cast him.

Jack Nicholson John Joseph Nicholson (born April 22, 1937) is an American retired actor and filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest actors of all time. In many of his films, he played rebels against the social structure. He received numerous ...

, Marcello Mastroianni,

Alberto Sordi Alberto Sordi (15 June 1920 – 24 February 2003) was an Italian actor, voice actor, singer, comedian, director and screenwriter. Early life Born in Rome to a schoolteacher and a musician and the last of five children, Sordi was named in hon ...

and Gian Maria Volonté were also considered for the role. When De Laurentiis bowed out of the project and Fellini signed a new contract with producer Alberto Grimaldi,

was cast in the role. Fellini required that he shave his head and wear both prosthetic nose and chin to give him a more grotesque appearance. Fellini had to re-shoot parts of this movie, including the elaborate

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

carnival scene, when approximately seventy reels of film—including the first three weeks of shooting—were stolen at the Technicolor labs of

Tiburtino Tiburtino is the 6th ''quartiere'' of Rome (Italy), identified by the initials Q. VI. The name derives from the ancient road Via Tiburtina. It belongs to the Municipio II, Municipio IV and Municipio V. History Nomentano is among the first 15 q ...

, on August 27, 1975. The thieves were apparently interested in

Pasolini Pier Paolo Pasolini (; 5 March 1922 – 2 November 1975) was an Italian poet, filmmaker, writer and intellectual who also distinguished himself as a journalist, novelist, translator, playwright, visual artist and actor. He is considered one of ...

's ''

Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom ''Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom'' ( it, Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma, billed on-screen ''Pasolini's 120 Days of Sodom'' on English-language prints and commonly referred to as simply ''Salò'' []) is a 1975 horror film, horror art film dir ...

'' (1975), and some reels of this film were also stolen, along with half of Damiano Damiani's spaghetti western ''A Genius, Two Partners and a Dupe'' (1975). Chesty Morgan and

Barbara Steele Barbara Steele (born 29 December 1937) is an English film actress known for starring in Italian gothic horror films of the 1960s. She has been referred to as the "Queen of All Scream Queens" and "Britain's first lady of horror". She played th ...

were both cast in the film, but their scenes were deleted from the final cut. Music was composed by

, a frequent Fellini collaborator.

Awards and nominations

1977

, United States * Winner - Best Costume Design (Danilo Donati) * Nominated - Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium (Federico Fellini, Bernardino Zapponi) 1977 David di Donatello Awards, Italy * Winner - Best Music (Nino Rota) 1978 BAFTA,

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

* Winner - Best Costume Design (Danilo Donati) * Winner - Best Production Design/Art Direction (Danilo Donati, Federico Fellini) * Nominated - Best Cinematography (Giuseppe Rotunno)

References

External links