Dangerous Beauty . Newcity Chicago . 03-09-98

Dangerous Beauty

DIRECTED BY: Marshall Herskovitz

REVIEWED: 03-09-98

"Soft porn," moaned a woman I met recently, "but I can't wait to see it!" She was talking about "Dangerous Beauty," the true story of Veronica Franco, who, as a poetess and courtesan, was considered a national asset in sixteenth-century Venice. Produced by the same team that brought us "thirtysomething" and "My So-Called Life," the film is conscientious about explaining Veronica's plight: with no dowry or social standing, prostitution was the only viable path to the education and comfort level she desired. This eased some of the guilt I felt while lapping up the requisite scenes of makeovers and sex ed (all presided over by that old hand at whoring, Jacqueline Bisset), but that's really not what makes the film so enjoyable. Nor is it the inclusion of weak references to Veronica's literary skill: the courtly toasts and cunning barbs she shoots off are never as clever as they're intended to be. No, what makes "Dangerous Beauty" such a delightful prostitution fantasy is that it skirts the fundamental ingredient of prostitution altogether: gross, hateful johns. Nearly all of Veronica's men are handsome, clever bucks who cherish her wit and vie for the honor of her sexual mastery over them. When she wakes up that first morning (after a night with a fatherly hunk), the look on her face is sunny, like the look Scarlet had the morning after Rhett carried her up the sprawling staircase, the look that let us know she was not in fact raped, but ravished. There's really not much sex at all, but--like in a soap opera--there's an awful lot of talk about it. With a sex goddess set squarely as the narrative's subject--not object, for once--the real piece of meat becomes her true love Marco, he of the romantic hair and bulging brown eyes. "Rufus Sewell," purred my companion, finding the actor's name in the credits. "There are so few men who justify use of the word 'smoldering.'"

--Ellen Fox

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Dangerous Beauty

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Dangerous Beauty
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