Dernier amour

"Casanova, Last Love," which looks at the famed 18th century philanderer's infatuation with the supposed "one true love of his life," is a dull and uninvolving portrait that, despite its sumptuous settings and costumes, never takes flight.

Jacquot, who is seventy-four, stands his artistic practice on its head in order to consider it retrospectively.

Though Jacquot throws into question our presumptions about figures like Casanova, as well as vilified women like La Charpillon, he leaves it at that, leaving us wondering what exactly it was all for.

It's an immaculately crafted film with scant substance, or purpose, or even levity; an exquisite box with only a slightly rank smell inside.