Casanova

The chameleonic Heath Ledger plays a very different romantic hero, far removed from his tortured loner in Brokeback Mountain, in Lasse Hallstrom's playful, lusty romp inspired by the legend of the Renaissance-era bounder.

There are obvious nods to Shakespeare in Jeffrey Hatcher and Kimberley Simi's script - mistaken identity, cross-dressing, the promotion of women as fearsome opponents in the battle of the sexes.

Yet, despite the 18th-Century setting and a profusion of heaving, corseted bosoms, Casanova has a very modern and youthful sensibility.

Ledger and rising star Sienna Miller make an attractive screen couple. There might not be a great deal of sexual chemistry there but both actors appear to be having fun in their lightweight roles.

Their verbal jousting falls rather flat, undermined by a scarcity of tart one-liners, leaving us to question how Casanova, a man lacking in wit and sparkling conversation, came to be such a notorious lover of women.

Surely the female population of Venice must expect more than boyish good looks?

If his bedroom etiquette (what little we get to see with the film's 12A classification) is any indication, he's not exactly the most generous or attentive of lovers.

In the city of gondolas, Giacomo Casanova (Ledger) is a legend, scampering from one fair maiden's bedchamber to the next, flouting decency laws to the despair of the Inquisition, under the command of Dalfonso (Stott).

Each time the Inquisition seems to have a good case against Casanova, The Doge (McInnerny) rescues the charmer from the hangman's noose.

Eventually, The Doge's patience wears out and he vows to banish Casanova from the city unless the incorrigible womaniser takes a wife.

And so Casanova sets out to woo the virginal Victoria (Dormer).

She seems like a most agreeable match, until Casanova meets fiercely independent Francesca Bruni (Miller), whose determination and intelligence finally sets Casanova's heart aflame.

Adding to the confusion, Francesca's brother Giovanni (Charlie Cox) is in love with Victoria - now smitten with Casanova - and Francesca is already betrothed to the portly Papprizzio (Platt).

What's a man to do, other than pretend to be Papprizzio, woo Francesca and hope she forgives him when the truth about his deception is revealed?

Shot on location in Venice, which looks truly gorgeous, Casanova is a likeable wheeze, albeit a rather chaste one.

Characters are sketched in scant detail, relying on the actors to bring their own charisma, comic timing and sensuality to the roles.

Jeremy Irons delivers a master-class in nostril flaring and scenery chewing as the pantomime villain, Bishop Pucci, while Platt takes campness to delirious new heights as Papprizzio, the lard king of Genoa.