Fellini's Casanova

Fellini films Casanova not as a seducer but as a mechanism with nothing inside it. He did not hide the intention: he wanted to expose the void in the man's life, and his dislike of the character is on the record throughout the production. Donald Sutherland's appearance follows from that view. Fellini had him shave his hairline and wear a prosthetic nose and chin to make the face more grotesque. The whole film was shot at Cinecittà in Rome. Nothing was filmed on location, and even the sea was built in the studio. The production took a serious hit. On 27 August 1975 around seventy reels were stolen from the Technicolor labs in Rome, including the first three weeks of shooting, and major sequences had to be redone. Danilo Donati won the Academy Award for costume design and the film was also nominated for adapted screenplay. It took BAFTAs for costume and production design and a David di Donatello for its score. Who it is for: viewers who like late Fellini formalism and cinema that leaves the artificial visibly artificial. Who it is not for: anyone hoping to connect with the character. The film refuses that outright and keeps the audience outside for 155 minutes.