User Reviews

This show really threw me for a loop. At first, I thought it was going to be about debaucheries committed by Casanova as he lived his life in Paris. They show you an overwhelming amount of beautiful women with corsets that really…uh…accentuate their beauty. As the show goes on though, they really capture the personality of Casanova. You know from the very beginning that he was a sexual deviant. And then suddenly, everything takes a turn when they delved deeper into his life about Alchemy, politics, and even espionage. What really astounded me about this show was the amount of details put into the costumes and the scenery. It was absolutely AMAZING to see the amount of thought put into the show and you can actually feel the atmosphere and culture. Everything from clothing designs to walking along the street really captured the essence of France. What this show did lack, however, was suspense and pacing. There were no moments in show where I was on the edge of my seat; Casanova was never really in any danger. Something I do agree with other reviewers is that the story develops at a snail's pace. I personally didn't mind it, but I can understand how this show might be perceived as dull by others. I am certain that it will get much better further on. This first episode was more to show you the beginnings of Casanova and setting the groundwork for much better things later on. Can't wait to see more episodes, this show definitely has a lot of potential!

This pilot, directed by the brilliant Jean-Pierre Jeunet, gives us a Casanova engaged as a spy ordered to take down Madame Pompadour. It's an interesting premise, well performed and lushly designed.

The pilot really tries to capture the Paris of the time. There are alchemical hucksters, torturous capital punishment, intrigue, and opera. There are also lots and lots of naked ladies.

I don't actually know where this pilot was broadcast - I just found it online - but I hope it's still being shopped, because I would really like to see how it plays out.

This pilot had extremely good audience reaction. A good deal of positive critics reaction too. Some bad reactions from insider Hollywood critics. Now we find out from interviews with Actress Helena Bonham Carter that Weinstein had a vendetta against the director of Casanova, Jean-Pierre Jeunet and was using his influence to attempt to damage Jeunet's work. It looks like some of the critics who panned Casanova are the very same who were protective of Weinstein right up until the allegations became too widespread to deny. It also looks like Amazon may have possibly caved to pressure from Wienstein who was producing projects for Amazon. So if you are wondering why this stunningly good production never made it beyond the pilot, keep in mind the most powerful and abusive power broker in Hollywood had a specific vendetta against its director, Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Perhaps Jeunet blocked Harvey's casting couch. Even worse, perhaps Amazon enabled Weinstein's vendetta

For more info, which just came out, just hit google news for: Weinstein and Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Vanity Fair has an October 2018 piece on this as does The Guardian

What a shame that the corrupt Hollyuwood

The story is genuine and brought out to a new style yet the execution is still on the range of every show i'v seen talking about that era of time .. the script seems to be good ,, but there are this 10 minutes where you feel the scenario goes slow and unnecessary but it seems like the rules of Amazon prevent the show from having less than 55 continuous minutes of script !!?

Stu Zicherman is a good writer and familiar with thrill as he wrote a couple of exciting episodes of the Hit spies series "The Americans" but again i really hope they work a bit more on the screenplay as it needs a bit of trimming ;)

The casting was not a wowzer .. i think they casted Diego Luna cuz he get paid less than other choices ,, and i really wished he had a British accent as it would seems more appealing to the ears even if Casanova was Italian ,, i mean look at "The Musketeers" on BBC or "Da Vinci's Demons" on starz casting Tom Riley ,, same Italian look but with more charming accent the face of Diego Luna is perfect and his performance was okay but again the voice matters too .. also Bojana Novakovic is not that wonderful actress ,, i think they missed in this part of the Show ...

Overall, the story is fresh and catchy but the cast doesn't really intrigue you into keep on watching more or at most into waiting for the next scene to come.

When will writers, producers and directors learn that no men in the 18'th century had facial hair?! No matter how long you search, you will never find a painting from that century, depicting a man with a beard. It was considered filthy.

For me , it was a very nice surprise. First for discover Diego Luna as a real good Casanova, after many performances and explorations of this role by other actors. Second for inspired Madame Pompadour by Bojana Novakovich. Not the last, for charming atmosphere and wise embroidery of pieces of XVIII century. And for precise analysis of cruelty / barbary of the last part. Short, a lovely surprise. Maybe more interesting as episode pilot than a serie.

I don't know what is worse, Harvey Weinstein trolling for young female victims in the casts; or companies like Amazon kowtowing and killing of productions of directors like Jean-Pierre Jeunet who blocked Weinstein's predations in prior work.

Jean-Pierre Jeunet, the genius behind the"Casanova," was also the genius who created Amelie, A Very Long Engagement , Alien: Resurrection , The City of Lost Children and Delicatessen. Amelie was a Weisenstein production. After Weinstein was shut out of Jean-Pierre Jeunet's "The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet" it look like Weinstein was able to successfully "blacklist" Jeunet, with it seems, the cooperation of majors like Amazon -- and this critically acclaimed Casanova was the victim. Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Casanova is visually stunning, sexy as heck, great dialogue and plotting. It would have made a perfect series.