It is a tale of love and lust about history's most famous legendary Italian lover who was scandalously infamous for seducing women.

In 1753 Giacomo Casanova (Heath Ledger) was a celebrated lover of Venice, Italy. As a young man he was notorious for seducing women including a novice in a convent. The authorities of Venice got annoyed by Casanova's activities and his protector, the Doge (Tim McInnery) told him that unless he got married, he will be forced to exile him. So, Casanova and his servant Lupo (Omid Djalili) started to search for a suitable bride and they did find one, a virgin named Victoria (Natalie Dormer). Even though Casanova didn't love Victoria, he proposes to her. But Victoria has an admirer, Giovanni (Charlie Cox) who lives across the canal  with his mother (Lena Olin) and sister Francesca (Sienna Miller). Giovanni boldly challenges Casanova to a duel.

Francesca on her part has agreed for an arranged marriage to Lord Papprizzio (Oliver Platt) from Genoa, who had made a fortune in lard and whom she never met before. Francesca has been waiting for the arrival of Papprizzio. She also writes feminist literature under a pen name. As her brother Giovanni is not good with the swords and she is a good swordswoman, she decided to take his place in the duel with Casanova. In the duel, Francesca fights Casanova to a draw. After the duel she revealed her identity and Casanova found her beautiful, smart and seductive and he is really smitten. Find out more about this historical love birds.

Director Lasse Hallstrom delightfully narrates an epic romantic love story with great charm. He mixes the legendary Italian lover's adventures with humour. The intricate costumes are excellent and the beautiful Venetian locations are very alluring.

Heath Ledger as Casanova presents an excellent performance. He very well portray the charectors ability to talk and charm the women of different classes. The newcomer, beautiful Sienna Miller as Francesca is very good. As a pair, Miller and Ledger look good on the screen and there is good chemistry between them. Among the supporting characters, Jeremy Irons as the inquisitor, Oliver Platt as Lord Papprizzio, Natalie Dormer as Victoria are very good.

In this age of feminism this film could be a tough sell mainly because it is the story of an infamous womanizer who was also a liar and a cheater. On the other hand, it could be considered as a tale of love and lust about a historical lover. The cinematography is very good and the city of Venice looks beautiful on screen.

We rate this movie GOOD.