Casanova visits one of Venice's islands to copulate with a fake nun for the pleasure of a rich
voyeur. Casanova is frustrated that the man finds no interest in his research into
alchemy and his further scheming. As he rows back to the mainland, Casanova is arrested, judged and imprisoned by the High Court over his famed debauchery. During his time in prison, Casanova reminisces of his affairs with a dressmaker and later on with one of her junior employees, Anna Maria, who suffers from frequent fainting and requires constant
bloodletting. Casanova escapes the prison through the roof and exiles himself from Venice, being taken into the
Paris court of Madame d'Urfé. The Madame, an aged woman, enthralled by Casanova's apparent knowledge of alchemy, wishes to transform her soul into a man's through ritualistic intercourse with him. Fortuitously, Casanova encounters his brother, whose girlfriend he entices away. Two years later, in
Forlì, Casanova moves to the court of a hunchback, Du Bois, in between taking charge of a beautiful young woman, Henriette. The lovers vow fidelity to each other, but the following morning, Henriette has disappeared. Du Bois informs Casanova that an emissary of a faraway court has reclaimed Henriette, and she has requested that Casanova not attempt to follow her. While in
London, Casanova is robbed by two women and he attempts suicide by drowning himself in the
Thames. A vision of a
giantess and two
dwarves distracts him; he follows them to a
frost fair, where he arm-wrestles the giantess—a princess—and later pays to watch her bathe with the dwarves. Casanova attends a deranged party at Lord Talou's palace in
Rome, where he wins a bet over how many orgasms he can have in one hour. In
Bern, he falls in love with an alchemist's daughter, Isabella, who fails to keep an appointment to go to
Dresden with him; Casanova instead partakes in an orgy within the hostel he has been stranded in. In Dresden, he has a brief chance encounter with
his estranged mother in a theater. He then moves to a court in
Württemberg, where his desire to be taken seriously as a writer/inventor is frustrated by the court's orgiastic, wild nature. It is here that he meets Rosalba, a mechanical doll with whom he shares a dance and later on has sex with. Time goes by and Casanova, now elderly, holds the position of librarian to Count Waldstein at his
castle in Dux. Life at the castle is more than frustrating for Casanova, as he becomes an object of mockery and animosity. A weary, bloodshot Casanova cringes in an armchair and recounts a recent dream. In this dream, Casanova is back in Venice. He chases the ghosts of his past lovers, all of whom disappear. An ornate stagecoach beckons him to join its passengers. He finally meets with Rosalba, the mechanical doll, once again and they dance with each other. ==Cast==