A light farce dressed up as a lush 18th century costume drama, Casanova gives a fictional spin to the exploits of history's most rakish seducer of women. As played by Heath Ledger, this Casanova bears no resemblance to Donald Sutherland's unrepentant portrayal in Fellini's Casanova, filmed 30 years earlier. Instead, the great ladies' man of Venice is just biding time by bedding women, waiting for true love (and the return his long-absent mother) to settle down into blissful monogamy. He finds true love in Francesca (Sienna Miller), a feminist who initially resists Casanova's affections while director Lasse Hallström serves up a variety of lightweight subplots including Casanova's flight from the Vatican's inquisitor (Jeremy Irons); a host of mistaken identities involving, among others, the portly "Lard King of Genoa" (played with scene-stealing perfection by Oliver Platt in a blubbery fat suit); and the romantic negotiations of Francesca's mother (played by Hallström's wife, Lena Olin) and a young bumbler named Giovanni with his own promising future as a lover of women. It all adds up to a good-looking and harmless diversion that barely warrants an R-rating, and it makes a fine double-bill with the more enjoyable Dangerous Beauty, another Venetian lover's tale that was also blessed by the presence of Platt, who gives this Casanova the majority of its entertainment value. -Jeff Shannon.

Now, more than ever, when reality television dominates prime time, it is a pleasure to escape to Skebawn and make oneself at home amongst the colorful characters who so confound and brighten the life of Major Sinclair Yeates (Rumpole of the Bailey's Peter Bowles), the transplanted "fine gentleman from England," who serves as the Irish county town's Resident Magistrate at the turn of the 20th century. This very welcome three-volume set contains all three series which are based on the stories by Somerville and Ross. Charmed as the surroundings may be, "things are different in Ireland," as the very proper Yeates learns over the course of these 18 episodes, in which he finds himself presiding over "improbable" cases, or getting caught up in the lives of the eccentric villagers, most notably, his Puckish landlord Flurry (Bryan Murray), a misfit entrepreneurial spirit. Another formidable presence is his none too deferential housekeeper, Mrs. Cadogan (Anna Manahan). His wife, Philippa (Doran Godwin), and, later on, his sister, Babs (Sarah Badel), show incredible tolerance to what the late Alistair Cooke best described as "amiable chaos". In one episode, Yeates is locked in his room by an actor whose illegal production Yeates means to close. In another, a temporary "job cook" proves indeed too good to be true when she gets drunk on the occasion of a welcome home dinner for Flurry and his bride, Sally (Lise-Ann McLaughlin) and the dread mother-in-law, Lady Knox. (Faith Brook). Another memorable episode finds Yeates and company shipwrecked and spending the night in the home of a very odd doctor and his menacing cockatoo. [+]

Emma Thompson scores a double bull's-eye with this marvellous adaptation of Jane Austen's novel. Not only does Thompson turn in a strong (and gently humorous) performance as Elinor Dashwood-the one with "sense"-she also wrote the witty, wise screenplay. Austen's tale of 19th-century manners and morals provides a large cast with a feast of possibilities, notably Kate Winslet, in her pre-Titanic flowering, as Thompson's deeply romantic sister, Marianne (the one with "sensibility"). Winslet attracts the wooing of shy Alan Rickman (a nice change of pace from his bad-guy roles) and dashing Greg Wise, while Thompson must endure an incredibly roundabout courtship with Hugh Grant, here in fine and funny form. All of this is doled out with the usual eye-filling English countryside and handsome costumes, yet the film always seems to be about the careful interior lives of its characters. The director, an inspired choice, is Taiwan-born Ang Lee, who brings the same exquisite taste and discreet touch he displayed in his previous Asian films (such as Eat Drink Man Woman). Thompson's script won an Oscar. -Robert Horton, Amazon. com.

This curiously dry adaptation of Thomas Hardy's last novel, Jude is a good example of Michael Winterbottom's inability to make a particularly good film until Welcome to Sarajevo. Christopher Eccleston plays Jude Fawley, a self-educated stonemason who holds the dream of attending university but identifies with the working class. Kate Winslet is enlisted to play his cousin Sue Bridehead, a young woman with suffragette leanings and a position as a teacher's assistant. When the two enter into an illicit union, they are condemned to the margins of society, ultimately resulting in a horrifying tragedy. Winterbottom takes an oddly lean approach to Hardy's deterministic story, which leaves a viewer feeling short on emotion just when one needs it for the from-bad-to-worse third act. Welcome to Sarajevo proved that Winterbottom needs a whole other level of personal involvement to make a film that inspires him. Jude isn't one of those lucky films. -Tom Keogh, Amazon. com.

Based on a novel by Alexandre Dumas, La Reine Margot concerns the events behind infamous Massacre of St Bartholomew in sixth-century France. Isabelle Adjani plays Margot, betrothed for political reasons to one man (Daniel Auteuil) by her mother (Virna Lisi), while she is, in fact, in love with another (Vincent Pérez). Despite the bond that grows between the reluctant couple, plots are hatching all over the castle against the royals. Adventurous, exciting, erotic and given strong artistic credibility through its outstanding cast, the film is enthralling and visually sumptuous. Directed by Patrice Chereau, less known outside of France than is the film's producer, Claude Berri (director of Jean de Florette and Manon des Sources). -Tom Keogh.