DANGEROUS BEAUTY (Warner Bros.) Starring: Catherine McCormack, Rufus Sewell, Oliver Platt, Moira Kelly, Jacqueline Bisset, Fred Ward. Screenplay: Jeannine Dominy, based on the novel "The Honest Courtesan" by Margaret Rosenthal. Producers: Marshall Herkovitz, Edward Zwick, Arnon Milchan, Sarah Caplan. Director: Marshall Herskovitz. MPAA Rating: R (nudity, sexual situations, adult themes, profanity) Running Time: 115 minutes. Reviewed by Scott Renshaw.
For quite a while, DANGEROUS BEAUTY tempts you with an irresistable combination of compelling substance in a glorious package...quite fitting, considering the premise. Based on Maragaret Rosenthal's fact-based "The Honest Courtesan," it tells the story of Veronica Franco (BRAVEHEART's Catherine McCormack), a young woman of humble means in 1583 Venice. With no dowry to offer, Veronic has little hope of ever being a suitable match for her beloved Marco Venier (Rufus Sewell), a gentleman of high station. In fact, her mother (Jacqueline Bisset) offers that Veronica's only hope of a good life which can support her family is to become a courtesan to the powerful men of Venice. Though she initially recoils at the idea, Veronica soon finds herself one of the most desired women in venice, sharing her bed with senators, kings, bishops...and yes, even the now-married Marco.
If you smell a tale of degradation and class warfare in the making, sniff again. DANGEROUS BEAUTY actually paints quite a rosy portrait of Veronica's life while presenting an intriguing history lesson in gender politics. While the noble ladies of Venice were able to marry well, they paid the price with their tongues and minds. Denied education, property or participation in public life, a good wife faced a lifetime of staying home, bearing children and sitting quietly in a corner with her sewing. Veronica, on the other hand, learns that a courtesan is expected to seduce not just with her body, but with her mind as well. She learns of history and art, writes love poetry and interacts with men as they discuss the issues of the day. When the other option is mute insignificance, prostitution suddenly seems considerably less cruel a fate.
Director Marshall Herskovitz wraps this tale in enough style, romance and humor that it's usually as entertaining as it is provocative. Sumptuous production design renders 16th century Venice in romanticized colors and dark interiors, accentuated by Lucianna Arrighi's marvelous costumes. The central pairing of Sewell and McCormack generates heat and tension as the two characters negotiate the tricky parameters of their relationship. Then again, McCormack never hits a single false note in her performance, her expressive face registering emotions ranging from innocence to astonishment to wicked wit. Her sense of liberation as she achieves a level of equality a "lady" could never achieve anchors the film's strongest scenes, including a battle of verse with Marco's cousin Maffio (Oliver Platt) and an encounter with oblivious Venitian wives forced to quiz her on the war in which their husbands are engaged.
For well over three quarters of its running time, DANGEROUS BEAUTY is an unqualified pleasure. You can feel free to leave the theater when the plague strikes fair Venice, because at that point it quickly degenerates into thematic proclamations and over-wrought courtroom confrontations. It certainly doesn't help matters that the court in question is an Inquisition court charging harlotry and witchcraft as the causes of the plague, providing plenty of opportunity for right-thinking audience members to cluck their tongues at religious hypocrisy and demagoguery. After offering well over an hour of subversive notions cloaked in costume drama, Jeannine Dominy's script plants Veronica on a soapbox for the deliver of an I-am-Renaissance-woman-hear-me-roar manifesto, inspiring all and sundry to leap to their feet in an "Oh Captain, my Captain" show of solidarity. Don't let those cheap theatrics wash the good taste of the rest of DANGEROUS BEAUTY out of your mouth. McCormack's radiant performance and an unusual exploration of primitive feminism give it the real punch its forced conclusion tries too hard to provide.
On the Renshaw scale of 0 to 10 courtesan sessions: 7.
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