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Dangerous Beauty

Dangerous Beauty

Drama · Romance · 1998

Veronica is brilliant, gifted and beautiful, but the handsome aristocrat she loves, Marco Venier, cannot marry her because she is penniless and of questionable family. So Veronica's mother, Paola, teaches her to become a courtesan, one of the exotic companions favored by the richest and most powerful Venetian men. Veronica courageously uses her charms to change destiny -- and to give herself a chance at true love.

Movie details

Dangerous Beauty

“Born without privilege. Bound by tradition. She found the courage to follow her heart.”

1998 Drama · Romance 1h 51m

Critical arithmetic

The consensus, allegedly.

IMDb

7.1 / 10

20.2K votes

Rotten Tomatoes

69 %

Tomatometer

Metacritic

51 / 100

Metascore

TMDB

7.0 / 10

Community rating

External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.

Veronica is brilliant, gifted and beautiful, but the handsome aristocrat she loves, Marco Venier, cannot marry her because she is penniless and of questionable family. So Veronica's mother, Paola, teaches her to become a courtesan, one of the exotic companions favored by the richest and most powerful Venetian men. Veronica courageously uses her charms to change destiny -- and to give herself a chance at true love.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Dangerous Beauty?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Marshall Herskovitz

Written by

Jeannine Dominy

Catherine McCormack

Catherine McCormack

Veronica Franco

Rufus Sewell

Rufus Sewell

Marco Venier

Oliver Platt

Oliver Platt

Maffio Venier

Fred Ward

Fred Ward

Domenico Venier

Naomi Watts

Naomi Watts

Giulia De Lezze

Jacqueline Bisset

Jacqueline Bisset

Paola Franco

Moira Kelly

Moira Kelly

Beatrice Venier

Court is in session

Put Dangerous Beauty on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Prestige Tourist

“Sincerity is not manipulation.”

The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.

The prosecution The Adrenaline Seeker

“The strings are showing.”

Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.