Catherine McCormick Wins Hearts as ‘Dangerous Beauty’
Dangerous Beauty, starring Catherine McCormick and Rufus Sewell is the true story of a courtesan and her struggle to live a life society won’t allow her to have. Based on the biography The Honest Courtesan, by Margaret Rosenthal, the film takes us on a journey through the life of Veronica Franco, a woman who falls in love with a man whom she can never marry because of social standing.
In anguish over her love, and on the advice and prodding of her mother, Veronica enters the world of the elite courtesans. In a gorgeous Venetian setting, Veronica is taught by her mother, a once famous courtesan (played by Jacqueline Bisset), how to properly “give pleasure and know pleasure.” As Veronica’s lessons begin to sink in she is transformed from a rough and tumble lady to a seductress with enough of a spark to send King Henri III of France on his rear, which she does in order to enlist his fleet of boats in the war. We follow Veronica as she struggles with her position in society and the love of a man she can never marry. She becomes one of the most sought-after courtesans and ends up more politically tied into the city’s affairs than one would have expected.
The poetry alone in this film is overwhelmingly touching. The exchanges between Marco and Veronica drip with passion and desire; Veronica’s poetic duels with the Maffio (Oliver Platt) are comical; and the romantic monologues she delivers throughout the film are so intense you’ll wonder if you’ve ever felt passion the way she does.
Costuming is breathtaking. In flowing red gowns with adorned bodices and overskirts, Veronica is the picture of beauty and wealth. Her high heels and golden hair done up in lavish curls provide stature. The other courtesans in the film are equally beautful, and though several of their costumes consist of nothing other than hair pins, it is the overall style in which the actors handle themselves that makes them so appealing.
I’ve read several reviews on this movie and was surprised by the lack of enthusiasm and comments made by film reviewers. One reviewer (James Berardinelli, 1998) commented on the title Dangerous Beauty, stating that “the words dangerous beauty mean very little especially in connection with this film.” I whole-heartedly disagree. I think Veronica was very much a dangerous beauty, dangerous to a society that did not openly accept women as intelligent beings. She fought for women’s rights to be heard while struggling with her own life as a personal slave to any man who could afford her. Her life was in a constant state of turmoil: women hated and envied her freedom, men desired and feared her passion, and in the end all she wanted was to marry the man she loved and have a few poems published. Instead she helped Venice in the war, survived the plague and the inquisition, and made her mark, not only in history, but in my heart.
