Fellini's Casanova

Imbued with an air of funereal solemnity and elegance, this forsakes realism in favour of a stylised romantic pessimism which confronts impotence, failure, sexuality and exploitation as fully as Pasolini's Salò. Although teetering at times dangerously close to Ken Russell, the visual daring and pure imagination of every image leave it as an elegiac farewell to an era of Italian cinema; and Sutherland's performance is the most astonishing piece of screen acting since Brando's in Last Tango in Paris. SM.