Film

Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in New York, plus articles, trailers and more
 

Dangerous Beauty (1997)

Director: Marshall Herskovitz

Average user rating
1 review

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

This lengthy 16th century romp detailing the life of Venetian courtesan Veronica Franco (McCormack) is so awash in '60s costume kitsch, old-fashioned sexual banter and feeble innuendo as to make a mockery of its putative celebration of the self-emancipating efforts of its low born heroine. Poetry loving Veronica can't wed her dashing aristo Marco Venier (Sewell), since he's bound for a marriage of convenience. Her mother Paola (Bisset) steps in to announce, shockingly, 'You will be a courtesan, like your mother!', proceeding to teach her the ropes. Before you know it, this gifted student is jousting with verses against court poet Maffio Venier (Platt), and bedding Doges, cardinals, cabbages and kings, while outside the pox, the plague and puritanism rage. There are few traces of irony, intended fun, or Casanova-style exoticism here: the director may intened a feminist Visconti, but he ends up with a Zalman King Red Shoe Diary crossed with a Dick Lester Dumas adaptation. Only the finale, a preposterous trial with Veronica caught in a bitter war between church and state, raises the spirits.

Author: WH 0000-00-00 00:00:00

Time Out Film Guide

  • Print this page
  • Send to a friend

User reviews of this film

  • SLockster said...
    Posted on Feb 28 2008 12:51 This is a great film. It is about a different subject matter than most films approach, the main actors have real chemistry together and are totally believable and although it tries to bring in too many different elements to the story line i.e war, plague etc. it is a thought provoking and a feel good film which I saw 5 years back and have been thinking about until I found it again on DVD.
    Report as inappropriate

What do you think?
Post your review now

clear rating
Min 1 star. Zero stars will be treated as unrated.

*mandatory fields


Cast & crew

Director: Marshall Herskovitz

Producer: Marshall Herskovitz, Edward Zwick, Arnon Milchan, Sarah Caplan

Cast: Catherine McCormack, Rufus Sewell, Oliver Platt, Moira Kelly, Fred Ward, Jacqueline Bisset, Peter Eyre, Naomi Watts, Jeroen Krabbé full cast

Genre(s): Period/Swashbucklers

Duration: 112 mins


Features

Making a name for himself

Making a name for himself

Sin Nombre's Cary Joji Fukunaga learned his lessons well.

To the letter

Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.

Mind over matter

David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.

Fool's gold

Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.

We are the championed

Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."

A history of violence

Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.

True romantic

James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.

Playing in the dark

MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.

Junk bonds

Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.