Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		5.0
Overall		4.5

Il Casanova di Federico Fellini Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov May 20, 2009

Federico Fellini’s dark and deliciously perverse “Casanova” (1976) gets a solid treatment by French atrhouse distributors Carlotta. The Blu-ray disc herein reviewed contains the film’s 154 minute cut as well as all three official audio versions – English, French and Italian. Unfortunately, it is Region-B “locked.

Donald Sutherland as Giacomo Casanova

Federico Fellini's Casanova is a dark, at times notably disturbing film. It chronicles the deeds of the famous Italian seducer after he is captured and thrown in prison on accusations of heresy and witchcraft. In 1977, the film won Oscar Award for Best Costume Design, as well as David Award for Best Music at the David di Donatello Awards (the Italian Academy Awards).

The film opens up with Giacomo Casanova's (Donald Sutherland) arrest -- he has been sentenced by the almighty Inquisition. A confident, borderline arrogant man is escorted to a gloomy cell. He is slowly stripped of his clothes and locked up. As the prison guard walks away, Casanova begs to be freed but his plea is rejected.

Eventually, Casanova manages to escape the prison. He begins wandering Europe's most exciting cities where he encounters a number of fascinating characters. He seduces Angelina the Giantess (played by Sandra Elaine Allen, once the world's tallest woman), Rosalba the Mechanical doll (Leda Lojodice), the famous Dr. Moebius's (Mario Cencelli) daughters (Olimpia Carlisi and Silvana Fusacchia), and the old but lustful Marquise d'Urfe (Cicely Browne). Casanova even beds a nun when he secretly visits the great city of Venice. At one point, he also crosses paths with the legendary Don Juan. The film ends on a deceivingly upbeat note with a very interesting message.

Fellini's Casanova is a film critics love to argue about. Some have claimed that it is a despicably exploitative work in which excess and human degradation are used for no other reason but to scandalize; others have defended it as an impressive dark satire on the fallacies of human nature.

What Fellini attempted to accomplish with Casanova, however, is perhaps a bit of both. As expected, his imagination runs wild and, occasionally, the film entertains themes that are simply impossible to fully rationalize. But do they have to be? After all, Fellini’s films aestheticized perversity and art by merging them together and promoting them as a form of culture that does not need to be defined by conventional logic.

What makes the film so fascinating to behold is precisely the fact that it is impossible to decode its message. Fellini constantly plays with one’s expectations and in the process carefully blurs the fine line that separates the logical from the illogical. So the sooner one realizes it, the easier it becomes to appreciate his vision. (The basic idea behind Fellini Satyricon is the same, though everything, from the narrative to the visuals, is moved to an entirely different level).

The cast is fantastic. Sutherland delivers a career-defining performance as Casanova. The numerous unprofessional actors are also impressive. The little known at the time Lojodice, for example, who plays the lusty mechanical doll, is incredible.

Fellini and Giuseppe Rotunno shot the entire film inside Cinecitta studios in Rome. More than 200 technicians assisted multiple Oscar-winning production designer Danilo Donati (Salo, or The 120 Days of Sodom, Caligula).

Il Casanova di Federico Fellini Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Federico Fellini's Casanova arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of French distributors Carlotta.

I'll say it upfront: this lovely edition of Casanova is the best kept Blu-ray secret. Period. It is an absolute treasure, which many of you who have gone through endless DVD releases of the film that were plagued with endless issues will be ecstatic to see. Quite some time ago, I noted that BFI's Blu-ray release of Michelangelo Antonioni's Red Desert is a good enough reason to consider investing into a native Region-B or Region-Free player. Well, folks, now it is absolutely essential that you think about going Region-Free. Really, if Carlotta's release of Fellini's Casanova does not convince you, nothing will.

The transfer from Carlotta is in fantastic shape. Before I sat down to write this review, I ran a few quick comparisons with the old non-anamorphic French disc and, frankly, the difference between the two releases is simply unbelievable. First, this French Blu-ray disc preserves the film's original aspect ratio of 1.85:1. Second, contrast is impressively stable, detail pleasing and clarity about as good as I hoped it could be. Third, the color scheme is simply fantastic. Next to the French DVD, the Blu-ray image conveys so much depth and tonality (with all sorts of fine nuances) that as cliché as it may sound you have to see them in order to believe them. Fourth, the heavy macroblocking that plagued the French disc is nowhere to be seen. Fifth, the Blu-ray transfer has retained plenty of the natural film grain. This being said, I did notice a few minor specks popping up here and there, but overall the film looks very healthy. Finally, there are absolutely no traces of problematic denoising corrections. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free player in order access its content).

Il Casanova di Federico Fellini Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are three audio tracks on this Blu-ray disc: English LPCM 1.0 (48 kHz), French LPCM 1.0 (48 kHz) and Italian LPCM 1.0 (48 kHz). I opted for the English LPCM 1.0 track and later on did a few random comparisons with the other two tracks for the purpose of this review.

First, let's make it perfectly clear that there are no imposed French subtitles on the English LPCM track. Thie English LPCM track is in good condition. The dialog is crisp, clear and easy to follow. Furthermore, I did not detect any disturbing audio dropouts, pops, or hisss. As expected, the overdubbing has produced some minor sync issues, which some of you might be able to detect. But, you should know that these are perfectly normal, given that post-production dubbing was favored by the Italian film industry at the time.

As I mentioned above, I ran a few quick tests with the French and Italian dubs (I spent more time on the French dub). Overall, both appear to be practically identical in terms of clarity. During the selected scenes I tested, I did not detect any disturbing pops, cracks, or hissings. This being said, Nino Rota's lovely score sounds terrific on all three LPCM tracks. For the record, Carlotta have provided optional French subtitles for the Italian and English versions of the film. (You won't be able to turn off the subtitles from the main menu. You have to use the subtitles button on your remote to do so).

Il Casanova di Federico Fellini Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Casanova arrives in a stylish case that very much resembles the coffee-books introduced by Warner Brothers in North America. This is, however, a much sturdier and better designed package. The booklet Carlotta have provided with it (attached to the actual case) contains a number of reproductions for sketches drawn by Fellini himself.

On the actual Blu-ray disc you will find all of the extras that were previously available on the Carlotta DVD as well as a few exclusive supplemental features prepared exclusively for this Blu-ray release:

El Il Casanova de Fellini (1975) (73 min) – This is a rather long documentary, which Fellini requested that Gianfranco Angelucci and Liliane Betti complete a year before the shooting for Casanova started. Some well known Italian actors - Marcello Mastroianni, Ugo Tognazi, Alberto Sordi, Tonino Guerra, Vittorio Gassman – are given the opportunity to improvise in front of the camera. A lot of these improvisations were later on utilized by Fellini to finalize the main characters in Casanova. (In Italian with optional French subtitles).

Et Fellini Créa Le Casanova (28 min) – a rather long but very insightful interview with Gianfranco Angelucci, scenarist and Fellini collaborator, who recalls how Casanova came to exist and how some of the more outrageous scenes were filmed. He also addresses El Il Casanova de Fellini. (In Italian with optional French subtitles).

"Poly-gammies" en la mineur (21 min) – Composer Alexandre Desplat (The Beat My Heart Skipped) talks about Nino Rota's truly unusual soundtrack. He focuses on the relationship between images and sounds and how they are absorbed by the viewer. (In French without optional French subtitles).

Les memoires d'un casanoviste (22 min) – French film director Alain Jaubert ("Giacomo Casanova") talks about Fellini's characters, the exotic locations from the film (done at Cinecittà Studios, Cinecittà in Rome and Lazio) as well as the critical overtones the film conveys. (In French without optional French subtitles).

Autor de Casanoa: piste informative – this is a Profile 1.1 feature. When activated, a small box, with texts in French, appears on your screen during specific scenes. The feature can be activated from the main menu.

Gallery of stills –

Original theatrical trailer –

(Note: The supplemental features on this Blu-ray disc are not playable on NTSC-only TV sets. In order to view them in North America, you either have to have a multi-system TV set or a Region-Free Blu-ray player capable of converting PAL- NTSC).

Il Casanova di Federico Fellini Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Fans of Federico Fellini's Casanova will be delighted to hear that there is finally a deserving release of his controversial film. French distributors Carlotta's Blu-ray disc is certainly one of the most delicious releases to be produced in Region-B. I really hope that they would continue to surprise us with such special treatments. Finally, it would be unfair if I did not mention the case this Blu-ray disc arrives with - it is lovely. Yes, this is one classy looking release. Bravo Carlotta! Very Highly Recommended.