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Based on the novel the “The Honest Courtesan”, it certainly is no “Nana.” We are given bold glimpses of, 16th century Venice, when courtesan and their pimps roamed the Venetian canals, the women beautifully framed in their gondolas, weaving a magic spell over all the sight seers that would-be customers.  The women are voluptuously photographed.

Catherine McCormack, plays a courtesan of the era, who cannot marry the man she loves, Rufus Sewell, because they are supposed to marry others for financial gain.  Jacqueline Bisset, shows us how to age gracefully in a performance that matches her beauty.  There are sex-romps galore in bordellos and all over Venice, unfortunately Venice has been better served in “Wings Of The Dove”.  Here it is used as a background and sometimes you get the feeling of a travelogue.

Packed with so much intrigue, from plagues, insurrection, war, and courtesans all over place offering us a peep-show of costumes of that period., plenty of nudity and some hard core language.  Leaf through a Playboy magazine and I think you’ll be better rewarded.
 

Reference:
Dangerous Beauty
Warner Bros.
Directed by: Marshall Herskovitz
Produced by: Marshall Herskovitz, Edward Zwick, Arnon Milchan, Sarah Caplan
With: Catherine McCormack, Reufus Sewell, Oliver Platt, Moira Kelly, Fred Ward, Jacqueline Bisset, Peter Eyre
Director of Photography: Bojan Bazelli
Music by: George Fenton
Edited by: Steven Rosenblum, Arthur Coburn
Production designed by: Norman Garwood
Costume Design by: Gabriella Pescucci
Excutive producers: Michael Nathanson, Stephen Randall
Written by: Jeannine Dominy
Based on the biography "The Honest Courtesan" by Margaret Rosenthal
Rated: R