the_lady_lily | Filmography

Waiting for God, season 4

Last one of these that's available on Netflix - Diana and Tom have moved in together, and obviously this Does Not Go Entirely Well. I have to say that there were some quirks of characterisation here that didn't quite fit - Diana was made out to be much more of a slob than she had previously appeared, which didn't quite fit the character as a whole, while Tom's obsessive cleaning fitted to an extent, but still...

The series closes on a medical note, and everything hangs in the balance - I think it's a comparatively dignified way to end things, myself. There are the usual social messages about what it's like to be old, and some wonderful bits of writing, but I can see why this was the last series. It just starts to get a bit tired and not quite as wonderful as the earlier material. I'm glad they didn't try to string it out any longer, but still enjoyed this for what it was. Three stars.

Casanova

Now, I thought this was great fun. It's tongue-in-cheek, the setting and costume are great, the acting's not actually at all bad, the script is good. The plot is thoroughly daft, of course, and the general overarching conception is equally thoroughly daft, but it's a very good film for watching if you want a giggle and a dose of the sillies - what Netflix seems to call 'feel-good', and I'll definitely give it that. G, on the other hand, says it makes him feel a bit dirty to have enjoyed watching it, and spent the first half-hour becoming increasingly upset about the use of the Spanish senor rather than the Italian signore.

He still found Jeremy Irons as Grand Inquisitor Pucci rather marvellous, however.

There was also a pig. And an absolutely ridiculous final chase scene involving a coach and four, and a canal, and running through towns, and an inventive use of a crashed hot air ballon.

I mean, it's hardly trying to do a historical rendition of the memoirs of Casanova, and actually is surprisingly low on smut. But there's a consistent and quite interesting exploration of the theme of identity that runs throughout the piece - rather than develop multiple themes, the writers sensibly decided to take One Big Theme and play with it in various ways, which actually gives the film a conceptual unity that saves it from being intellectually unsatisfying. The surface of this is that the plot revolves around multiple cases of mistaken identity, but it goes deeper than that - questions of what it is to be a woman, or a lover, or how people define themselves, come into play as well. The whole concepts of mistaken identity also throw into sharp focus the realities of living in a world where things like photographs and likenesses are unknown - it was possible to not know what your fiance looked like if you'd never seen him, after all.

Plus some good comedy.

It's just the sort of thing I needed on a Saturday evening for winding down, it has Heath Ledger as Casanova, Oliver Platt as the fantastic lard merchant from Genoa with a brilliant Brummie accent, and Sienna Miller as the rather anachronistically pro-female Francesca Bruni. It's good fun, and I recommend it to you with four stars.