In this Baroque version of the notorious womanzier’s “Memoirs,” Donald Sutherland, then at the height of his career, plays the 18th century adventurer. Overlong and self-indulgent, even by Fellini’s standards, this adaptation of the popular Casanova tale divided critics and audiences. Fellini was charged by his critics for drifting from inspired free flights of his imagination toward a elusive and rambling expressive forms, though at Oscar time members of the Academy showed greater appreciation for the end result.
Oscar Alert
Oscar Nominations: 2
Screenplay (Adapted): Federico Fellini and Bernadino Zapponi
Costume Design: Danilo Donati
Oscar Awards: 1
Costume Design
Oscar Context
Danilo Dontai, who also oversaw the sets, was a multiple Oscar nominee, including nods for several Fellini and other films, such as “Mandragola” (1966) and “The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1966).
And so was Fellini, as both director and writer, though he never won a legit, competitive Oscar. In 1993, just months before his death, Fellini received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Academy.
The winner of the Adapted Screenplay Oscar was William Goldman for “All the President’s Man,” which was also nominated for Best Picture.
