Casanova

Another parcel from Britain arrived yesterday. This time it was last year's BBC production of Casanova, the biography of the notorious 18th century rake and conman, starring David Tennant and Peter O'Toole in the title role. Not simultaneously, of course; O'Toole was playing the more senior version.

I'm not generally partial to bodice-rippers, but my wife has a David Tennant obsession at the moment (Must be the haircut. I may be in trouble in a couple of weeks.), so I was pretty much along for the ride. Still, it was of some interest to me, as I'd read Casanova's memoirs some years ago and it's always fun being able to anticipate what's going to happen next, but there were still quite a few surprises, as it isn't easy boiling down twelve volumes of racy autobiography into three hours of television-- especially of the avant garde type. This is not a production notable for solid dialogue and close attention to period. In fact, it is very much of a likeness to the unfortunate trend these days to jettison everything and play fast and loose with period until one must accept that the story is not about the 18th century, but rather the 21st in fancy dress.

Clearly Casanova was meant to be something of a phantasm with bits of allegory woven in and suggests that it is less biography than an excuse for weaving a tale that our rather strait-laced, yet decadent times could never carry. For one thing, the characters never age despite a storyline that covers some twenty-five years. Costumes and hairstyles are more suited to the '80s than the 18th century and the colours used are more suited to Studio 54 than the Venetian Republic while the musical score is pure synth. Also, the cast includes an improbable number of black actors (Why no East Indian or Chinese?) and everyone mouths anachronistic dialogue in accents that suggest that the days of proper English are dead and gone.

Russell Davies does an excellent job with the script, which is not surprising, as Casanova is definitely his element. Davies is a brilliant writer, but the topic of sex seems to be his base and he is never very comfortable when he strays away from it. This is evident in the new series of Doctor Who, where he has scored a deserved triumph, but he somehow has trouble grasping the idea of the Doctor as an avuncular character who simply may not possess a sexual interest in his companions. Davies is much more in his element here, as he was with Queer as Folks and Couplings. In his hands, Casanova's story becomes less of a sex romp (which it pretty much is for the first two episodes) and more of an examination of how far one can carry the lifestyle of a free and easy libertine before it turns into something very nasty that literally breeds evil. This is hammered home quite effectively in the last episode when the story turns dark and the allegory a bit heavy as Casanova's bastard son turns out to be his homonculous, but did we really need Vesuvius to make the point?

The acting in Casanova is first-rate. David Tennant is perfect as the young Casanova; wenching and conning his way through life (The scene where his confession of his sexual escapades gives the priest a heart attack is priceless), and the often under-used Peter O'Toole as the old and spent Casanova was inspired. It was a relief that his part had some real meat to it rather than being a mere framing device. Rose Byrne holds her own well against O'Toole and Nina Sosanya's Bellino makes a fascinating transition from seductive to repellently decadent, but Laura Fraser's estuary accent is more distracting than defining and her character is never wholely believable as the life-long love of Casanova, though Shaun Parkes fits his part of Rocco so well that one suspects that it was written for him.

One thing that struck me is how much of Casanova in look and feel resembles the new series of Doctor Who. Not surprising, really with Davies and so many actors from the former going on to the later. But this gives me an idea. One game that is popular these days is for fans of Doctor Who is to take old episodes of the show and put together Next Time trailers for them in the style of the new series. Well, I figure, what with Tennant being the current Doctor, it might be a bit of a wheeze to do the same for Casanova by using a suitably bawdy collection of scenes, add in a judicious cut of Billie Piper, and then post it on the Web as one of this season's upcoming episodes. Then it would be just a matter of waiting for the heart attacks to roll in.

I think the original Casanova would have approved.

Not the Casanova Next Time trailer