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Veronica Franco
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Veronica Franco (played by Catherine McCormack) is a beautiful young woman who falls in love with a nobleman Marco Venier (Rufus Sewell). She can't marry him, though, because she doesn't have enough social status. Veronica's mother (Jacqueline Bisset) gives her another option, to become a courtesan, or prostitute. Because a courtesan must be entertaining to nobles, but she doesn't have to worry about a husband's permission, she can become educated. Veronica learns to read, write poetry, and sword fight.
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It's Venice in the 16th century and beautiful, independent but impoverished Veronica Franco (Catherine McCormack) is forced to become a courtesan. Since she can never wed her one true love, high-born Marco (Rufus Sewell), she determines to live as sexually and intellectually free a life as possible. Her unconstrained behavior and poetic gift make her both desired and notorious, but ... land her in the soup when war, disease and the Inquisition take over her once carefree, libertine city.
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[T]he film's romantic fantasy version of a courtesan -- 16th century poet Veronica Franco -- has its own integrity. In the opening and elsewhere, it offers up alluring pictures that speak to the heart.
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Based on Margaret Rosenthal's biography of 16th century Venetian courtesan and poet Veronica Franco, DANGEROUS BEAUTY stars Catherine McCormack (who portrayed Mel Gibson's doomed wife in Braveheart, scored by James Horner... beginning the inevitable game of Six Degrees of Titanic). Veronica loves Marco Venier (Rufus Sewell), brother of her best friend Beatrice Venier (Moira Kelly), but due to her lack of a dowry is unsuitable as a wife for him. Scion of an important Venetian family, he must marry according to his station. Unable to "buy a good marriage", as her mother Paola (Jacqueline Bisset) so succinctly puts it, Veronica is tutored to become a courtesan -- with her own mother, formerly one of the best courtesans in Venice, as teacher. In one of those peculiar ironies for which Western civilization is famous, Venetian courtesans in the 16th century are the only women who are allowed a literary and cultural education. Indeed, men often rely on the counsel of their mistresses as much as on their own advisers.
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Veronica Franco (Catherine McCormack) cannot wed the man she loves, Marco Venier (Rufus Sewell). And she must support their family--her mother (once a courtesan) offers Veronica the same option. Becoming a courtesan is the best choice for Veronica, since she must now be the support of her family. The film tells Veronica and Marco's story--through Venetian life, the Turkish War, and finally the Spanish Inquisition's visit to Venice.
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Based on a biography of Veronica Franco, Dangerous Beauty is directed by Marshall Herskovitz. Veronica Franco (Catherine McCormack, Braveheart) is a passionate thinker and lover, who dares to insist on women�s rights to be respected and loved, no matter their station in life. No problem, right? Not quite -- Veronica lives in the decadent world of 16th century Venice, where women are little more than property. To make matters worse, she is in love with a high-born man, Marco (Rufus Sewell, Kenneth Branagh�s Hamlet, Cold Comfort Farm), but comes from poor and questionable family. Unable to marry the man she loves, her mother, Paola (Jacqueline Bisset End of Summer, Airport) teachers her to be a courtesan, one of the exotic and illicit companions patronized by the rich and powerful men of Venice.
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Veronica Franco