Dangerous Beauty (1998)

Outline: When a lower class woman, Veronica Franco (Catherine McCormack) realizes that her upper class love, Marco Venier (Rufus Sewell), can/will never marry her, her mother (Jacqueline Bisset) trains her to become a courtesan. To Marco's chagrin, Veronica becomes the most popular courtesan in 16th century Venice. Oh, it's based on a true story, by the way.

Yes, gentle reader, I have fallen astray from my original mandate of daily reviews. Between moving, new job, and summer session at school, I have been a wee bit busy. Hang in there with me, I'll find a balance yet. On the bright side, I am returning to my implicit mandate of bringing you movies you have never even heard of. Once again it's a film I came across late one night on satellite. Oh, satellite TV, how I miss you.

Also, yes, it's about a courtesan, so there is lots of sex in the movie. It's also quite scary at other points. I don't know what to tell you. It's 16th century Venice - what exactly are you expecting?

McCormack is stunningly believable as the disillusioned, brilliant, and sexy Veronica. Perhaps it is because she is singularly beautiful, but I am certain there must more that it than that. She literally glows, so passionate and sorrowful is her portrayal.

Before I saw this film, I thought Sewell was best suited to villains. And not complex ones at that. This film, however, did . . . well, I was going to say "a lot to shake that theory", but that's not really true. It did a little to shake that theory thought not enough to sell me on him. I am excited, however, to see him as Lord Marke when Tristan & Isolde comes out later this year. Oh, Aruthurian legend.

Marshall Herskovitz's direction is striking and sumptuous. I'm not really sure how it fares in comparison with his other work, as all I have seen besides this is the critically-acclaimed Once and Again. Of course, I loved that show, and I love this movie, so it's a pretty safe bet to say that he's got it goin' on.

As for Jeannine Dominy's adaptation of Margaret Rosenthal's book, I have no opinion. I've never read the book, and Dominy has done nothing else. I'm a sucker for historical fiction and period pieces, so this film is right up my ally.

Speaking of historical fiction, that pretty much guarantees that you can find this film at your local library, where they will let you take it away for free. Unless you are me, of course, and then they will want you to pay your overdue fine. And your co-workers will admonish you for not paying it. That's special.