"I will begin with this confession: whatever I have done in the course of my life, whether it be good or evil, has been done freely; I am a free agent."
Perhaps the most famous lover of all time, whose sexual reputation is so (in)famous and notorious that it coined the term and trope The Casanova.
Giacomo Girolamo Casanova (2 April 1725 – 4 June 1798) was a Venetian libertine and a rake who spent half of his life embarking on sexual pursuits, his experiences of which are recorded in his memoir, Histoire de ma vie ("History of My Life"; he wrote it in French). The books contain 1.2 million words in 12 volumes, covering his birth to 1774, though there is some question as to how much of his autobiography is true, and how much is exaggerated.
What made Casanova stand out was his values. He was well-known to be a Chivalrous Pervert who valued women's intelligence and cared enough to satisfy them emotionally and sexually, which was unusual by the standards of the day. Casanova boasted that he had sex with over 10,000 women, though his memoir only mentioned 120 sexual partners over the course of his life. He traveled a lot, visiting countries from England to the Ottoman Empire, and getting to meet other historical figures like Catherine the Great, Benjamin Franklin, Voltaire, Madame de Pompadour, Frederick the Great, and probably Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
He also reported using condoms, and consumed 50 oysters (considered an aphrodisiac at the time) before he engaged with his women.
Tropes relating to Giacomo Casanova and his work:
- Amicable Exes: He was still in touch with some of his ex-lovers, and provided them the same respect he always had for them despite losing his sexual interest in them.
- Bowdlerise: Casanova's memoir has been frequently subjected to this due to his pornographic writing.
- The Casanova: The Trope Namer and one of the most famous Real Life examples. Amusingly, despite his status as this, contrary to what many might think, he really wasn't all that good-looking, compared to how he's portrayed in media, or even compared to other men who fit this trope.
- Chivalrous Pervert: He was often described in this vein, being a caring lover to those he was serious about. It seems he was Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places. Of course, he enjoyed sex more than he did love, as his reputation precedes him.
- Doorstopper: We repeat: 1.2 million words in 12 volumes.
- Ephebophile: One of the lesser known and more controversial aspects of Casanova was that he was known to go after girls and teens who were much younger than what many people today would consider legal or moral ages for relationships and sex (for an adult). He had a sexual encounter with a 13 year old in Paris when he was 30, and bought a 12 year old girl in St. Petersburg as a Sex Slave. At one point, this crossed right over into outright pedophilia; when he was almost 50, he ran into an old lover and her daughter, and the mother ended up bringing the child to him for...some alone time. The girl was 9 years old. He later introduced the mother to another one of his friends, who also "liked" little girls as much as Casanova did, so that he could get some of the same. She obliged him as well.
- Everybody Has Lots of Sex: Casanova's casual descriptions of sex, as had by both him and the other people in his memoirs, make it sound like it was the most normal thing in his time.
- He Also Did: Icosameron, a science fiction novel set in a Hollow World.
- Hotter and Sexier: His poetic writing of his sex life would make raunchy porn producers blush!
- I Love You Because I Can't Control You: Why Casanova fell for the greatest love of his life, Henriette, whom he described as free-spirited, independent, and intelligent.
- I Was Quite a Looker: He was said to be good-looking until his 40s.
- Kavorka Man: While he lost his physical charm and paid to get laid in his later years, he still managed to get women on a steady basis.
- Male Gaze: Very prominent whenever Casanova describes his "passion" for a woman's appearance, particularly her "tracts of land".
- Naughty Nuns: He recorded having illicit affairs with nuns.
- Parental Abandonment: He suffered this from both his parents, particularly his mother, who gave him up to his grandmother's care to pursue her acting career.
- Parental Incest: He admitted to having sexual relations with his niece and a daughter who bore him a son/grandson.
- The Pornomancer: Like always.
- Really Gets Around: One of the most infamous man-whores in human history. Unfortunately, he's a very dark deconstruction of this, as it meant that he really didn't care where the sex came from; be it married women, political rivals, noble ladies, common whores, nuns, family members... or children.
- Rescue Sex: His preferred method of seduction was to give a helping hand to a Damsel in Distress."There is no honest woman with an uncorrupted heart whom a man is not sure of conquering by dint of gratitude. It is one of the surest and shortest means."
- Stepford Smiler: He seemed to slide into this mindset in the later volumes of his memoir: "I can find no pleasanter pastime than to converse with myself about my own affairs and to provide a most worthy subject for laughter to my well-bred audience."
- Surprise Incest: He was about to get married to a 17-year-old girl before meeting her mother, who turned out to be his former lover from 17 years earlier, and she revealed that his fiancée was also his daughter. Although they immediately broke off the engagement, this revelation didn't stop Casanova from having an incestuous threesome with both women afterward, and he even impregnated her years later. Yeah... Oedipus and the King of Gods have nothing on this guy.
- Unreliable Narrator: How much of his memoirs can be taken as fact is very subject to debate. His description of "courting" some of the women in his life also comes across as predation or sexual assault to modern readers.
- You Can't Go Home Again: Casanova was stuck living in Bohemia in the last several years as a librarian and desired to return to his hometown Venice, but couldn't since Napoléon Bonaparte occupied it and he lacked any finance.
He appears in the following works:
- Casanova, a 1918 Hungarian film starring Alfréd Deésy as Casanova, with an appearance of Bela Lugosi. Very likely the first film to feature him.
- The Loves of Casanova, a 1927 French film starring Ivan Mozzhukhin
- Il cavaliere misterioso (The Mysterious Rider), a 1948 Italian film by Riccardo Freda, in which Casanova is played by Vittorio Gassman in his first leading role.
- Poslední růže od Casanovy (The Last Rose from Casanova), a 1966 Czech film featuring Felix le Breux as an aging Casanova during his stay at Duchcov.
- Camino Rea, a 1953 American stage play by Tennessee Williams, in which an aging Casanova appears in a dream sequence.
- Giacomo Casanova: Childhood and Adolescence, a 1969 film by Luigi Comencini with Leonard Whiting (of Romeo and Juliet fame) in the title role.
- Fellini's Casanova, a 1976 film by Federico Fellini with Donald Sutherland in the title role. Perhaps the most bizarre to date, owing to the filmmaker's idiosyncratic vision.
- That Night in Varennes, a 1982 French film. Several characters are traveling together in a coach that is a few hours behind the one that is carrying King Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette in their flight to Varennes in 1791 during the French Revolution. Casanova is one of them, played by Marcello Mastroianni.
- Casanova, a 1987 TV movie with Richard Chamberlain in the lead role.
- The Return of Casanova, a 1992 French film starring Alain Delon (in the title role) and Fabrice Luchini.
- Casanova, a 2005 BBC miniseries starring both David Tennant and Peter O'Toole as the title character (young and old versions respectively).
- Casanova, a 2005 film starring Heath Ledger, Charlie Cox and Sienna Miller.
- Casanova Variations, a 2014 film starring John Malkovich (yep, Valmont himself) in the title role.
