Dangerous Beauty

Dangerous Beauty doesn't know whether it wants to be a lofty historical drama or a crass Zalman King-style sexploitation flick (that is, one that thinks it's lofty but isn't), so it ends up being neither very intelligent nor very sexy. Catherine McCormack (Mel Gibson's ill-fated wife in Braveheart) plays Veronica Franco, a 16th-century Venetian who learns that the only way for a woman of her low station to get what she wants -- money, an education, freedom, and studly aristocrat Rufus Sewell -- is to become a courtesan servicing Venice's noblemen. (Instructing her in the art of pleasure is Jacqueline Bisset, naturally.) This proves a wise career move until, reeling from war, plague, and the Inquisition, Venice's old-boy network scapegoats her for its own sexual hypocrisy (plus ça change!). She is saved from the stake, however, in an absurd "I am Spartacus!" finale. McCormack is nice to look at and game for anything, including swordplay and Renaissance poetry slams, but the movie's stone-faced silliness does a disservice both to its star and to the surely more intriguing true story of Victoria Franco. At the Showcase (Seekonk Route 6 only).

-- Gary Susman