Word: courtesan
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...Traviata takes the hackneyed idea, "you can't judge a book by its cover," and turns it into something breathtakingly beautiful. The story centers around Violetta Valery, a French "courtesan"--basically an upper-class prostitute who provides parties and other entertainments for the members of the upper middle class--who, despite her shallow and flamboyant lifestyle, is caring and gentle at heart. Although she is very weak due to a severe case of tuberculosis, Violetta persists in throwing boisterous fetes that only make her worse, and the opera opens in the midst of one of these late-night revels...
Monica Lewinsky--just one more courtesan to shake an empire. K. HELMUT LENNEBERG Correas, Brazil...
...them all to ruin--the philandering father (Hugh Laurie), the spoiled daughter (Kelly MacDonald), the clueless son (Toby Stephens) and, for good measure, a self-absorbed young sculptor (Aden Young) who takes her generosity for granted, not realizing that she loves him. She spares only Elisabeth Shue's actress-courtesan, partly because she too is socially unacceptable, partly because she is so useful as the seductress Bette needs to bring off her schemes...
Catherine McCormack delivers a refreshing, funny and inspired performance in Marshal Herskovitz's new period piece. As Veronica Franco, a lower-class beautiful girl turned high-class court prostitute, McCormack leads a well-assembled cast in this slightly flawed--yet worth seeing--film about life as a courtesan in 16th century Venice. Prefaced by both opening and closing textual summations, the film clearly advances a social agenda--in this respect, it slides by with an average grade. The cleverness of the rest of its script and the excellence of the acting, however, save Dangerous Beauty and make it shine. Marc...
Catherine McCormack delivers a refreshing, funny and inspired performance in Marshal Herskovitz's new period piece. As Veronica Franco, a lower-class beautiful girl turned high-class court prostitute, McCormack leads a well-assembled cast in this slightly flawed--yet worth-seeing--film about life as a courtesan in 16th century Venice. Prefaced by both opening and closing textual summations, the film clearly advances a social agenda--in this respect, it slides by with an average grade. The cleverness of the rest of its script and the excellence of the acting, however, save Dangerous Beauty and makes it shine. --Marc...