| Casanova | |
|---|---|
| Format | costume drama |
| Created by | Dennis Potter |
| Starring | Frank Finlay Norman Rossington Zienia Merton |
| Country of origin | UK |
| No. of episodes | 6 |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Mark Shivas |
| Running time | 326 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | BBC2 |
| Original airing | 16th November - 21st December, 1971 |
Casanova is a British television drama serial, written by television playwright Dennis Potter. Directed by Mark Cullingham and John Glenister, the serial was made by the BBC and screened on the BBC2 network in November and December 1971. It is loosely based on Italian adventurer Giacomo Casanova's Histoire de ma vie (Story of My Life; 1780–92). It was Dennis Potter's first television serial, having previously written single plays for the BBC's The Wednesday Play and Play for Today series. Frank Finlay starred in the title role and was nominated for the best actor award at the 1972 BAFTA ceremony.
Contents |
After being arrested and charged with "foul atheism" and fornication, Casanova is sentenced to five years imprisonment at "The Leads": the most notorious of Venetian gaols. Brutalised by Lorenzo the gaoler and devoid of hope under the harsh prison regime, Casanova's mind wanders back to his past loves and adventures. He finds himself haunted by the memory of Christina, a simple country girl he gave to another rather than marry her himself.
Casanove receives a new cellmate in the form of Schalon, a corrupt insurance broker, and reflects on his seduction of three daughters at a house in Grenoble.
In 1966, William R. Trask published the first of his 12 volume translation of Casanova's memoirs while Potter was working as a book reviewer for The Times newspaper. Potter had been after a subject for his first drama serial and found in Casanova a suitable figure to continue the themes of sex, memory and redemption that had influenced much of his previous work.
When writing the serial Potter decided not to read the story of Casanova's adventures, choosing instead to work from a list containing the names of Casanova's lovers and specific events from his life.[1] Potter intended to explore the reason why Casanova was "driven" to have had so many sexual encounters. As a result, Potter's Casanova is far different from other interpretations of the character; he suffers from tristitia post-coitum (literally, the sadness after sex) and considers his reliance on women for sexual satisfaction a weakness. The serial includes a number of events that depart from established facts about Casanova.
Casanova was released on DVD by BBC Worldwide in 2004, as part of The Dennis Potter Collection, a range of Potter's work released that year.
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