“Casanova” – A Discussion

There are numerous thoughts and themes that could be discussed for Russell T. Davies’s Casanova. Is Giacomo Casanova a feminist or a misogynist? Is he a bad father (spoiler alert – YES!) and why is that? How does he get away with the cons that he pulls and draw such great people to him? Did he learn from his mistakes? And one of the biggest questions – why is David Tennant acting so similar to the Doctor?

With his amazing set of acting skills and experience in performing before being cast in Casanova, why are there so many similarities between this character and the Doctor? Simple answer – this was basically his audition for Doctor Who. This type of acting, this type of actor, is exactly what Russell T. Davies was looking for according to interviews with Mr. Davies. So what makes this movie similar to Doctor Who? Well, let’s start at the beginning. The very first thing we see is Casanova running. And he’s constantly running throughout the movie. From an angry husband at the beginning, to escaping jail, from one country to another finding Venetian ambassadors, and even his arch nemesis Grimani tells him to run after their duel. Anyone who’s watched Doctor Who, in any season, knows that running is the Doctor’s most used exercise. Running from aliens, running to save his companions, or to light an Olympic torch – the Doctor is always running to somewhere or from something. And for both Casanova and the Doctor, it’s not always physical running. The Doctor runs from his mistakes, companions and others he couldn’t save, and being the last Timelord (or so we believe for a while). Casanova also runs from his mistakes as well as the love he has to leave behind, the various lives he lived, and just not being able to settle himself in a stable life. The speech is the same as well. Casanova and the Tenth Doctor speak very quickly when trying to explain something and even with introductions, they start similarly. “Right, yes, hello, my name is Casanova/I’m the Doctor. Nice to meet you.” He’s very upbeat and polite. The Doctor, in many of his regenerations but especially Ten, is almost always like this when meeting new people. The Doctor is also constantly pretending to be someone he’s not. Casanova is no different. He’s a clever con man with high intelligence and a fast learner. He became a lawyer, a doctor, and even an astrologist. Never officially, of course. However, with his quick tongue and charismatic personality (again, like the Doctor) he managed to fool everyone. (Except Grimani who hated him from the beginning.) And he cannot let something go that he doesn’t understand such as why Grimani is so adamant about having a duel. “What am I missing?” he wonders, even as Grimani is getting ready for the duel. He eventually does figure it out and does a very Doctor thing – he tells Grimani he wants to help him. Even though it means teaching his rival how to gain the woman they both love’s affections, meaning she may not love Casanova as much, he is still willing to help. Grimani, of course, wants no part of it and shoots Casanova in the hand. He even has a “companion” named Rocco who followed him everywhere, even when it wasn’t in Rocco’s best interest. Could it be that the Doctor is Casanova in disguise? 😉

So how does one get away with the various ruses he attempts? First of all, he just has a very charismatic personality and people just love him – men and women, in various ways. He’s very open, energetic, and charming. He has a quick wit and quick tongue along with an incredible imagination. He can talk his way out of almost anything. And, as stated before, he is highly intelligent. “Not my fault I was born clever. Show me a book, a map, a language, and libretto. I won’t just learn it, I’ll use it.” And use it he did. Just by reading and talking well, he won a court case, helped a woman’s foot heal, convinced another woman that astrology was real (and that he was an astrologist), and learned to play violin. He used this knowledge to make a name and small fortune for himself. He obtained the knowledge he needed and exuded confidence in everything he did which made people trust and follow him. He always loses everything he gains, of course. It’s why Henriette married Grimani and not Casanova. She loved Casanova but he couldn’t provide the steady and safe life Grimani offered. But I always wonder, had Henriette married Casanova, would he have become more mature and steadfast? We’ll never know.

Interesting question of the day: Casanova – feminist or misogynist? I guess you could say a little of both. He certainly loved women. But truth be told, I’m going to have to go with feminist on this one. He didn’t judge women for their desires, their age, nationality, or anything else. “I have had them all. Every woman, every age, every color. In every position. I staggered through the world driven by this stupid, bloody, ruthless thing,” says the older Casanova. By this point he seems disgusted with his past life and the things he did. He also didn’t just throw them away once he was done with them. He didn’t take a woman who never wanted him. Even when Henriette says she’s going to marry Grimani, he respects her wishes and tries to live his own life. Even though he could’ve gone to her after he makes his fortune in Paris, he decides not to out of respect for her and her new family. Casanova slept with countless women, but always with their willingness. And he never looked down on them for it. He left them happier than when he met them. He loved each of them in his own way. When he slept with the sisters as a young man, the older sister gave him advice – “Just listen.” She told him that women just want to heard by men and by doing so, it makes all the difference. Casanova listened to her, both at that moment with her dreams and desires and following her advice. He gave women physical pleasure but complemented it with emotional and mental pleasure just by listening to them and understanding them. Even in his old age, he still remembered them and their stories. They weren’t just numbers or conquests to him. They were people who deserved his respect, attention, and memory. In a time where women were supposed to be chaste and obedient to their husbands, even though men weren’t required to do the same, he encouraged women to follow their desires as well and be equal to men – at least in the bedchamber.

Did Casanova learn from his mistakes? I say yes. Though at far too late of an age. It was his son who showed him the foolishness of his ways. “Giac showed me what I was.” And what was that? A con man. A man who bounced from one woman to the next. One country to the next. Never putting down roots and starting an actual family. A man who never lost his heart except to one woman he couldn’t have. Once he realized his mistakes, he disappeared. People wrote various ways he had died. Henriette couldn’t find him anymore. He moved to a small village where no one knew his name. He couldn’t fix the past, but he could change his future. And so he did, living out the rest of his life as a librarian. Though we never know if he found comfort in women after he left Giac in Naples. When speaking to Edith, he seems angry several times. He wants to burn his autobiography because of what he had done in the past. He is angry at his own penis that had brought urges in him that he didn’t control. And he’s reluctant to speak about Naples and the shame he felt once he was shown the type of person he was. Yes, Casanova did learn from his mistakes. He feels shame for the things he had done. But it was too late. There was nothing he could do to change it.

And how was Casanova as a father? Terrible, to put it mildly. He was always awkward around his son, not knowing how to speak to him nor show affection. He even wanted to change the boy’s name since the mother named him after Casanova. Thankfully Rocco was there to help the boy when he could. Casanova quite often forgot he even had a child with him. First when they arrived in Paris and get kicked out of the court and then again when they need to run from Paris due to his gambling problem. He tried to impress young Giac with his own exploits and deeds rather than getting to know his son. It’s no wonder Giac grew up hating his father and being disrespectful. Casanova did teach him some things though. They just weren’t traits you want to teach a child and he did so unintentionally. First thing he taught is that lying is ok. With all his cons and changing to whoever he needed to be at that moment, Casanova taught Giac how to get away with bad deeds and that dishonesty is a way to get ahead in the world. His second teaching is that sex is meaningless. “You’re always boasting of your exploits so why keep it private? You never did.” Giac makes a fair point to his father in Naples, as he’s undressing his half sister with several other people in the room more than willing to watch. Casanova was very boastful about the women he slept with. Earlier in the movie the audience sees Giac peeking through a slightly open door as Casanova is having sex with another woman. It obviously can’t be the only time this has happened. They’re even bantering as they arrive to the court in Naples as to who gets to sleep with the young woman who brought them there first. (Which winds up being Casanova’s and Bellino’s daughter, the half-sister to Giac.) Casanova has never shown that sex is more than physical coupling, so his son never learned of the emotional bond of sex. Casanova also tells him in the past, “Never lose your heart, Giac. Never let them take it.” Which, to a young boy, simply means never love someone. The boy was already struggling with emotional and mental disturbances due to his dysfunctional family mechanics and receiving no emotion from his father. This is the one thing he took to heart and it hardened him so much that he never learned how to give, or even receive, affection. Casanova had to leave Giac in Naples and never knew what became of him afterward.

But can we really blame Casanova for his lack of parenting skills? Well, on one hand yes. He could at least have shown basic human decency towards the boy. But Casanova is shallow and selfish. Things were always about him. But he also wasn’t raised around people who knew how to take care of children emotionally and mentally either. His mother was a terrible parent as well. She was an actress who disliked him being at the theatre and he would see her having sex with other men. When his father died, she went to the Russian court and left him behind to stay at a school ran by the Church. She constantly called him stupid (because he wouldn’t speak) and wouldn’t even kiss him goodbye because he had a nosebleed as she was about to leave. He never received affection from his mother so how was he supposed to know how to give it to his child? Then there was the church he was raised in. The only insight we receive is a clergyman being exasperated and unsmiling. The only event that makes Casanova happy is being touched by a girl. That is the only affection he has ever received and the only kind he knows how to give. Casanova is a bad parent as a result of having bad parents and parental figures himself.

There is so much more that could be said about Casanova. So much more depth to what, on the surface, seems to be a simple enough movie. But I think I’ve hit some of the more important themes and thoughts on Casanova – as a man and as a movie. Overall, if nothing else it is highly entertaining. And even though I don’t normally like to watch talented actors act in a similar role as another show or film, I simply can’t be disappointed in the similarities between Casanova and the Doctor. And knowing that this was David Tennant’s interview to becoming the Doctor makes it easier as well. As a woman, I like being able to watch the character and see how he interacts with the women in the movie. To me, he may have been all about having sex with them but he was also about the deeper emotional connection as well. And that makes a huge difference than just a “wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am” character. It makes him likable. But as a parent, I want to smack him and ask what’s wrong with him when Giac is ignored and not shown any tenderness or affection. It’s two very conflicting points of view. And even though I understand, in a way, why he was a horrible parent – it still doesn’t make it right. And I think in the end, he understood the mistakes he made with Giac and life in general. I think if he could have gone back and changed things as a young man, he would have done so. But the movie is a great lesson on learning how to live in the moment while also being aware that there’s a future to plan for as well. Casanova is a great movie both for entertainment and for discussion.