Cassanova

Cassanova

Three-part BBC television miniseries about the notorious 18th century lothario, written by Russell T. Davies and starring David Tennant and Peter O'Toole. The aged Casanova (O'Toole) is living out his days as the custodian of a library in Bohemia when he meets young serving girl Edith (Rose Byrne).

He begins to tell her about his infamous escapades as a young man (played by Tennant), when he scandalised Europe and was exiled from his native Venice for crimes against the government and church. Wandering through Enlightenment Europe, Casanova reinvents himself constantly as a poet, philosopher, spy, black magician, petty conman and, of course, lover, eventually incurring the wrath of the Venetian ambassador to Britain, Grimani (Rupert Penry-Jones), after he falls in love with his wife, Henriette (Laura Fraser). Wounded in a duel with Grimani, Casanova returns home but is unable to forget the one woman he truly loves.