Dangerous Beauty is a 1998 American biographical drama film directed by Marshall Herskovitz and starring Catherine McCormack, Rufus Sewell, and Oliver Platt. Based on the nonfiction book The Honest Courtesan by Margaret Rosenthal, the film is about Veronica Franco, a courtesan in sixteenthcentury Venice who becomes a hero to her city, but later becomes the target of an inquisition by the Church for witchcraft. The film features a supporting cast that includes Fred Ward, Naomi Watts, Moira Kelly and Jacqueline Bisset.
Veronica Franco Catherine McCormack is an adventurous, curious, slightly tomboyish young woman in Venice. Her lover Marco Rufus Sewell cannot marry her because her family is not wealthy enough to provide a good dowry. Marco, a future Senator, marries a foreign noblewoman instead. Veronicas mother Jacqueline Bisset must think of the future and her familys financial security, as she still requires dowries for her younger daughters and money for her sons commission. Rather than go to a convent, Veronicas mother suggests she become a courtesan, a highly paid, cultured prostitute like her mother and grandmother before her. At first Veronica is repelled by the idea, but once she discovers that courtesans are allowed access to libraries and education, she tentatively embraces the idea.Veronica quickly gains a reputation as a top courtesan, impressing the powerful men of Venice with her beauty, wit, and compassion. Marco finds it difficult to adjust to his new wife, who is nothing like Veronica, and becomes jealous as she takes his friends and relatives as lovers. After Marcos cousin Maffio, a poor bard who was once publicly upstaged by Veronica, attacks her, Marco rushes to her aid. They rekindle their romance. Marco wishes her to stop seeing clients and accept his support instead she rejects the idea, unwilling to sacrifice her financial independence or accept a fauxwife status. Nevertheless she spends a great deal of time with Marco in the country, neglecting her business, and ignoring her mothers warnings that such a relationship is dangerous for her. ........
Source: Wikipedia