The Magical World of 18th Century Venice
When it came to forging the look of Casanova, Lasse Hallström chose to aim for a palpable realism – attempting to recreate the mood and atmosphere of Venice at a time when divided streams sensuality and morality were both flowing through the spectacular, water-bound city.
From the beginning, the filmmakers knew there was only one option in terms of the film’s location: Venice and only Venice would work. Long renowned as one of the world’s most romantic and enchanted cities, it couldn’t be replicated. “It was critical for Lasse to shoot in Venice because there is no place else on earth like it – and Casanova and Venice are inextricably linked,” says Mark Gordon. ‘While it was complicated logistically, Venice is now a major character in CASANOVA and it was well worth the challenges.”
Shooting on location is a trademark feature of Lasse Hallström. “The Cider House Rules” was filmed in New England, “The Shipping News” took him to the arctic climate of Newfoundland and “Chocolat” was made in the picturesque villages of France. “I go wherever the script takes me and then I try to get deeply into the life of that place,” Hallström says. “The best way of getting to know Venice was to experience it in person. I am fortunate to have been able to shoot the script in a location that inspired the story and every single person in the production.”
Hallström was dazzled by the architectural landscape Venice offered. The city’s stirring and varied topography, from its warren of narrow streets and bridges to the sweep of the bay, from the splendor of the Piazza San Marco to the romantic allure of the canals, became a key aspect of the film, lending itself to CASANOVA’s comic escapades and maze-like adventures in identity shifting. “This film is one of the few movies I know of that has been entirely shot in Venice. The city adds the realism we wanted, while providing wonderfully seductive visuals as well,” says the director.
For the cast, shooting in Venice provided constant inspiration. Says Heath Ledger: “It was an absolute dream to shoot in Venice. It was like spending four months in the most amazing museum.”
To further bring out the romance and spirit at Venice’s heart, Hallström turned to production designer David Gropman, for whom CASANOVA marks his sixth film collaborating with the director. “The thing that I love about Lasse is his humanity and how that filters through into his filmmaking,” says Gropman. He always wants the story he is telling to be as honest as possible and, as a designer, this is of great interest to me.”
Gropman scouted as many as sixty locations in and around Venice with Hallström, looking for authentic 300 year-old sites, which he quickly discovered abound. The production utilized such iconic Venetian settings as the Church of Santa Maria della Salute and St. Mark Square — also gained access to areas that have never been filmed by a major production before, including the Piazza San Marco, which is flooded by every afternoon, and the Palazzo Ducale, the famous pink-and-white gothic palace which is an architectural highlight of the city.
“It’s an incredible advantage to shoot in a city where most of the exteriors and a lot of the interiors look pretty much as they did in the 18th century,” Gropman notes. “Once you eliminate the outdoor plumbing and electrics and signs and shop fronts, so much of the baroque and rococo details are completely intact. The primary resource material is right in front of you, around every corner, in every church or palazzo that you wander into. Everywhere you go you are receiving information that informs the choices that you make. Also, while it is a more abstract idea, we were also influenced by the flavor of being with the people of Venice because the spirit of the city is itself so inspirational.”
Gropman was especially thrilled with the cinematic potential that lies in Venice’s waterways. “I hope that one of the defining visuals in the film will be the water and the boats because that’s so much a part of what makes Venice unique in the world. It’s also interesting to remember that in the 18th century, there were even more canals than there are now and fewer bridges, so traveling by water was even more of a part of the culture.”
Shooting at centuries-old locations did bring its difficulties, however. “We wanted to use smoke for the texture and the period look but we were unable to do that in a lot of our locations because of the worry that it would hurt the Tintorettos or the fantastic artwork,” says producer Leslie Holleran.
There were similar challenges faced by director of photography Oliver Stapleton, who has collaborated with Hallström on “Cider House Rules,” “The Shipping News” and “An Unfinished Life.” Often while shooting in Venice, Stapleton was not able to use his usual lighting techniques in case the ancient and fragile interiors being captured were damaged. Stapleton had to use ingenuity to overcome the obstacles, a process that sparked his creativity, he says. “The limitations pushed me in a non-conventional direction,” he explains.
Lasse Hallström agrees that the sometimes-difficult circumstances encouraged his team to be more innovative in how they shot the city. “Both Oliver and I pushed ourselves to be a bit more daring with the camera and to find new ways of photographing Venice,” he says. ‘We both know that Venice has been captured so well up to now. We wanted to do something different: to portray the ineffable magic and spirit of the city, which is different from what you might see in postcards or books.
Adds Stapleton: “You could pretty much point a camera anywhere in Venice and get a great photograph: in fact I experimented by taking pictures at random and found that ninety per cent of them were pretty good. That’s the nature of Venice. The challenge for CASANOVA then was to do something that really describes the place in a new way. A lot of the challenge was to take a lot of time in pre-production to absorb the city and find places to put the camera in the big shots. It was very important to us that in those key moments when the film strikes out into the city that it be epic and startling.”
While the filmmakers attempted to bring magic to their depiction of Venice, Venice started working its own magic on them. “Everyone became steeped in a love affair with Venice,” admits Stapleton. “And I think it’s something that becomes apparent in the movie. It doesn’t feel like people moving on sets but rather through a real city in the 18th century.”
One of the key Venetian sequences in CASANOVA comes during Carnevale, the Mardi Gras- style festival during which the rules of society are turned upside down and the city comes alive with bear-baiting, fire-eating, bull-fighting, juggling and all kinds of mischief.
This epic festival sometimes lasted for six months and it was a social arena in which all classes could rub shoulders with each other, usually anonymously. Most wore masks, creating an atmosphere in which merriment, mayhem and even deceit often ensued. It was a time of duplicity and deception as well as romance, as torches lit up the waterfronts and the city let its hair down – and Casanova uses this to his advantage in his epic pursuit of Francesca.
Casanova’s Legacy: A Brief History of the Legend
While Lasse Hallström ‘s CASANOVA takes off into uncharted territory by having the romantic hero fall in love with a woman who rejects him – the film also pays homage to the richness of Casanova’s legacy. The subject of numerous novels, plays and motion pictures, Casanova has become one of the world’s most enduring modern myths. But he was also a real man with an incredible true history – a spy, soldier, diplomat, writer and adventurer who became of model of living life to its absolute fullest. His memoirs provide not only an entertaining account of his romantic dalliances- they also provide a fascinating snapshot of the Age of Enlightenment and of a man pushing the boundaries of human experiences to their most invigorating extremes.
Who was the real Casanova? A few facts
Giacomo Casanova was born in 1725 in the city of Venice. His father was an actor and his mother an actress whose beauty was famed across Europe. Though he was a sickly child, plagued by nosebleeds, it was said that he grew up surrounded by strong women who nurtured and enchanted him.
Showing early brilliance, Casanova studied at the University of Padua and entered the seminary at St. Cyprian to become a priest, but was expelled for his scandalous conduct and love affairs. He received his doctorate of law in 1742.
In 1744, Casanova became the Secretary to Cardinal Acquaviva of Rome until scandal again forced him to leave the city, eventually returning to Venice.
Casanova held jobs as a violinist, a clergyman, a secretary and a soldier in several countries. He also wrote prolifically, publishing plays, novels, poetry and pamphlets, though his most famous work would be his epic autobiography, “History of My Life.”
In 1749, Casanova met his first great love, Henriette, of whom he wrote: “People who believe that a woman is not enough to make a man equally happy all the twenty-four hours of a day have never known a Henriette.” She left him heartbroken.
Chased by the Inquisition for years, in 1755, Casanova was arrested for witchcraft and all his manuscripts confiscated. He was sentenced to five years in a dungeon, but he made a spectacular escape, winding up in Paris, where he was greeted as a celebrity. After making a fortune in the lottery there, he continued his adventures across Europe.
Casanova died on June 4, 1798 at his castle in Dux, in what is now the Czech Republic. In death, he became even more famous, enduring as a symbol of die-hard romance and the obsession with love.
Among the films made about Casanova’s life and loves are Alfred Deesy’s 1918 “Casanova,” Alexandre Volkoff’s 1927 “Casanova – The Loves of Casanova,” the 1954 Bob Hope comedy “Casanova’s Big Night,” “Casanova `70” starring Marcello Mastroianni and Federico Fellini’s 1976 “Casanova” starring Donald Sutherland.
Casanova (2006)
Directed by: Lasse Hallstrom
Starring: Heath Ledger, Sienna Miller, Jeremy Irons, Lena Olin, Oliver Platt, Natalie Dormer, Helen McCrory, Stephen Greif, Tim McInnerny, Charlie Cox, Leigh Lawson
Screenplay by: Jeffrey Hatcher
Production Design by: David Gropman
Cinematography by: Oliver Stapleton
Film Editing by: Andrew Mondshein
Costume Design by: Jenny Beavan
Set Decoration by: Anna Pinnock
Art Direction by: Susanna Codognato, Robert Guerra, Luca Tranchino
Music by: Alexandre Desplat
MPAA Rating: R for some sexual content.
Distributed by: Buena Vista Pictures
Release Date: January 6, 2006
Views: 673
