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Al-Ahram Weekly 2 - 8 September 1999 Issue No. 445 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 2 - 8 September 1999 Issue No. 445
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Focus Culture Features Profile Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters A Destiny of Her Own
(Marshall Herskovitz, 1998)THIS FILM'S screenplay, based on The Honest Courtesan, Margaret Rosenthal's novel, is a predictable Hollywoodisation of feminist ideas by the self same film industry that recycles female stars at lightning speed. In 16th century Venice, Veronica Franco (Braveheart''s Catherine McCormack) is a young, attractive, life-loving bookworm whose family, although possessing a coat of arms, is poverty stricken. Her father drinks away her dowry while her lover Marco Venier (Rufus Sewell) informs her that he has to marry according to his class. Veronica must, therefore, face the fate of her mother and grandmother and become a courtesan. As her mother (Jacqueline Bisset) tutors her in the arts of love, Veronica soon becomes the favourite courtesan of Venice's most influential men.
Although King Henry of France is so pleased with her that he agrees to lend her people his battleships to face the threat of Muslim Turks in Cyprus, when the plague strikes the city the Inquisition condemns her as a witch. Unlike Joan of Arc, however, thanks to her confidence in her sexual powers Veronica mirrors the hypocrisy of her people, who finally admit that witchcraft is too cruel a charge. The Inquisition proves powerless against a corrupt city. Co-produced by both Herskovitz and Edward Zwick (of Legends of the Fall) this superficial film suffers from the same vacant beauty that has earned the team many awards for previous television productions.
