IL RITORNO DI CASANOVA / CASANOVA’S RETURN

Leo Bernardi is an experienced and acclaimed director at the end of his career, who has no intention of accepting his own decline. For his latest movie, Leo has chosen to tell the story of Arthur Schnitzler’s Casanova. The one narrated by Schnitzler is a Casanova who has passed his youth: he no longer has his charm and power over women, he no longer has money, and he no longer has the pleasure of travelling around Europe. After years of exile, he has only one goal: to return to Venice, his home. On his journey home, Casanova meets a girl, Marcolina, who awakens his desire for conquest. While trying to seduce her, he will come to the most tragic conclusion: he has become old. The concerns and doubts of both men are incredibly similar. What is more important, cinema or life?

GABRIJEL SALVATORE / GABRIELE SALVATORES

Gabriele Salvatores (Naples, 1950), debuted as a theater director. After graduating at acting school he founded the stage company “Teatro dell’Elfo” in 1972, making 21 shows in a decade. He directed for stage show A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare, which garnered him the opportunity to direct his first feature by the same name in 1983, which received an award in Venice. Salvatores became known to a larger Italian cinema audience primarily through the comedies Marrakech Express (1989) and Turné (1990). He received international praise for Mediterraneo (1991), which won Oscar for Best Foreign Film. In his films he likes to mix genres and narrative style: from I’m Not Scared (2003) to As God Commands (2008), Educazione siberiana (2013); in Nirvana (1997) he combined sci-fi and Italian comedy while Italy in a Day (2014, his first documentary) is an experiment of cinema ensemble where he narrates a day in the life of Italians from their point of view.

 

Reveiws:

Casanova’s Return jumps from reality to fiction thanks to Julien Panzarasa’s punctually alternating editing, visually distinguishing the two parts clearly.

Vittoria Scarpa, Cineuropa