TV Happiness

I was, at 10.00pm, wondering whether to go to bed, since nothing was going to be quite so pleasing as the shot of Chris Langham's buttocks (clothed!) part-way through Help. I stuck around to watch Casanova. Ahh, Peter O'Toole. And Laura Fraser. Although I'm not sure I'm convinced by its odd fits of hyperreality, it's one of those exceedingly enjoyable historical romps that places story and character ahead of strict, educational explication. The young (tho' not youngest) Casanova is, like Tom Jones, an attractive adventurer, but the commentary of the older man adds an extra dimension: melancholy, humanity, the threat of the younger man's characteristics resurfacing.