All language subtitles for Dangerous Beauty xx

We danced our youth in a dream dog city
Venice

paradise proud and pretty

We

lived for love and lust and beauty
pleasure then our only duty

floating then twixt heaven and earth,
and drunk on plenty's blessed myrrh.

We thought ourselves eternal then, our
glory sealed by God's own pen.

The paradise we found is always frail.

Against man's fear will always fail.

Is there anything wrong, Mama?

Nothing at all.

What are you doing?

Come on, Pedro.

He's not looking at us, Bea. He's
looking at them.

Did you get my letters?

You didn't get them. I'm not talking to
you anyway. You broke my heart.

Come on.

Of virtues fair, bosoms like those who
could care.

My rod!

You smell like a whore. Oh, thank you.
You're a fine, welcome little sister.

Look at you.

You might make a wife after all.

Do you see him? See who? You know who.

My husband -to -be.

Is he handsome?

Oh, he's, um... He's powerful.

He is.

Veronica?

Welcome home, Marco.

I think I've missed you.

With all the court ladies to amuse you.

Oh, Roman women, they can't hold a
candle to the Phoenician.

Nor can French, nor can Florentine, nor
any woman from Europe to the Levant.

No doubt you sampled them all.

All but idle amusement until you
blossomed.

Marco. What keeps a son from greeting
his own parents?

Beauty, I think.

Oh, Marco.

Come on, you'll get your death.

Oh, Veronica, I thought you were going
to miss dinner again. Young ladies have

better things to do than poison their
minds with books.

Such as?

Such as minding their manners.

The butcher said he must be paid.

Toby, you've got a new posting, sir. Do
you know when you sail?

Yes, next week.

I wish I could go with you sail the high
seas. Oh, Veronica, high seas indeed.

She'll never find a husband if she
carries on like a child.

Do people marry, Mother?

They track a bargain.

What bargain over if you're in love?

Marriage is a contract, Veronica, not a
perpetual tryst.

Have you got someone in particular in
mind?

Sarah!

Oh, love. Sarah, give it back.

Life's harshness all forgave.

Heart's yearning met.

And God your soul give...

Must be true love.

That'd have made a dashing courtier,
don't you think?

Or maybe a pirate.

Disengage to the left. And again.

Back, extend, and launch.

Back, extend, and...

And where might you be going?

Nowhere.

That nowhere has a nice teller.

Veronica's on the canal.

With Marco Vignere.

Alone.

Mother Franco!

Oh, Eleanor, don't call me that.

Makes me feel ancient.

Young ladies of marriageable age must be
chaperoned. A good marriage for

Veronica could win me a proper
commission.

I always liked Marco Vignere.

He'll never marry her if he has her
first.

Marry her?

The bride of Marco's will need a king's
ransom.

My faded stars, your eyes, they melt me
as the sun does snow.

I bought this in Rome for you.

You didn't buy it for me.

Yes, I did.

I just didn't know it.

Oh, such an easy gift might easily be
taken back again.

Then name me any other gift.

The book will do for now.

I think perhaps you're too young to
accept what I would truly give you.

Well, I am not so young as you are vain.

You haven't changed, have you?

How would you know?

I fear you mistake me for one of your
easy court companions.

No.

No.

I mistook the asking in your eyes.

Do you not like my kiss?

I wish it were not a sin to have liked
him, sir.

God made sin, though we might know his
mercy.

I find myself within his eyes, and long
for more myself to know.

He hears, it seems, my silent cries, and
makes my heart my reason's foe.

How can this be, to love so quickly?

Love does not wait, is his reply.

What magic weaves his touch to trick me?

How can I now my love deny?

wedding brinkets.

Lorenzo Gritti and his fair bride.

Your union gives us greatest pride, good
health, great wealth, and lasting line.

On your union, God's glory thine.

How could they? How could who? What?

Your parents marry your sister off to
that piece of decaying flesh. That piece

of decaying flesh is a cousin of the
Doge, confidant of the Pope. The Roman

court adores him. Oh, the Roman court
doesn't have to sleep with him. Oh,

be surprised.

Save your blushes, Veronica.

They don't sit well with the bluntness
of your tongue.

Surely... They could have traded down a
few ducats for an ounce of virility.

Why? Well, for your sister's sake. My
sister's a prude. Oh, and she might have

kept her own bed. It would hardly be
more cruel marrying her to God. God

as rich as Lorenzo Gritti.

Do honour to the houses of Gritti
Avenir.

For Venice.

I've seen how you look at her, how she
looks at you. I know that look.

Father. Do not underestimate love's
allure, Marco.

Enjoy it, eh? But guard your head and
your heart.

You cannot marry her. I know.

Pietro, come.

You make me terribly wicked for saying
that.

You know we can't marry.

I know only what you tell me.

I must marry, according to my invitation
and my family's will.

Then why are you here?

Well, then don't.

My marriage must be a marriage in state.

My people are true citizens 700 years
back.

A coat of arms does not an inheritance
make.

I don't speak of love when you talk of
money.

I speak of my duty.

I'm one of your heart.

This isn't about my heart. This is about
politics.

How romantic.

Marriage isn't romantic. That's why God
invented poetry.

To sweeten men's lying lips. If I were a
liar, would I tell you this now? If you

cared for me, you could not tell me this
ever.

I want you.

I don't know.

Daughter, you have reached too high.

I told you, marriage is a contract.

Two countries signing a treaty. To a man
of Marco's station, it has nothing to

do with love.

But you can still have Marco.

But not in wedlock.

There's an alternative to marriage.

You'll become a courtesan.

I've seen you watching them. I've seen
you mesmerized by them.

You'll become a courtesan.

Like your mother used to be.

One of the best.

When?

A long time ago.

Veronica, I had hoped to buy you a good
marriage.

But your father drank away your dowry.

Your brother must buy this posting.

And I am too old.

It is you who must support us now.

Too soft for a scullery maid.

Or working the winery.

Perhaps a lady's maid.

Maybe Beatrice will hire you.

Wouldn't that be funny? Send me to the
convent then, to Santo Spirito.

you are not the type. How would you
know?

What are you doing?

Whichever devil you choose, you'll look
him in the eye first.

Which is more than my mother ever gave
me.

First secret of all great courtesans.

You must know pleasure to give pleasure.

Beauty is a manifestation of the divine.

That theory built the 15 chapels, and
it'll do the same for you.

I have advantage to women, as well as
men.

Carriage creates the first impression.

Come with me, Veronica.

Mama, we can't go in there.

Well, ladies can't go in there.

Courtesans can.

The Emperor Pericles relied more for
policy on his mistress than he ever did

his lieutenant.

Courtesans my dear are the most educated
women in the world.

A courtesan is a force of nature in a
civilized cloak.

Any chambermaid can flop down, take off
her shirt, and men will come.

Your true power comes from something
much deeper than beauty.

Cleopatra knew that.

Theodosia, a spacer.

She could seduce a man at 20 paces
without revealing an inch of flesh.

How? With her mind.

The desire begins in the mind.

I don't understand.

No, you don't.

Think of Marco.

I know you know anger.

Try disdain.

Submission. Reg.

Now,

make him believe that he is the only man
in the universe.

Who taught you?

Your grandmother.

In order to choose your lover's wife,
you need to understand men.

No matter their shape or size, position
or wealth,

they all dream of the temptress.

The irresistible, unapproachable Venus.

Quickly turns pliable maiden when
they've had a hard day.

Come. You can't be squeamish.

If you don't enjoy it, they'll smell it,
like a dog smells fear.

And they'll hate you for it.

What's there to be squeamish about?

If you touch.

Here.

Amazing. Use your fingers lightly, like
feathers.

Then harder.

Your tongue, like picking sweets.

Your teeth with restraint.

Just enough to keep him wanting more.

It's wanting that keeps us alive.

Paola. Minister Lamberti.

I'd like to present you to my daughter,
Veronica.

It would bring me luck, lady, if you
would play a hand for me.

Remember, Veronica, love, love.

But do not love the man, or you'll be in
his power.

Love.

May I call?

Hmm? May I call? Oh.

Lovely. This is my first bed.

Your first?

Unmistakably.

I'm honored.

Repent, your empty excesses!

There is no comfort here.

Friends, may I ask you, is this God's
game?

Why do you gamble with your souls? What
is it you want, sir?

Your salvation.

This is no company for one so fair.

And this may as well be deemed one large
floating brothel. What's biting your

ass this fair evening, cousin? Um,
poverty.

Always puts me in a bad mood. And you'd
begrudge the fairer sex their little

crumbs, would you? No.

Though they do make more in a night than
I a month.

The lovely whores.

Why don't you go and make yourself a
yeast? Give us a rhyme. No performing

monkey for the idle man. Then when?

We're all of us performing monkeys,
nephew.

Paupers and poets alike.

I'm at your service, uncle. If it's
rhyme you wish, I shall gladly oblige.

A subject.

Doge. Ah.

Venice to celebrate our plenty.

Ah.

Born in glory.

The virgin's exaltation.

Fair and mighty Venice.

Queen of the sea.

Unconquered maid.

Sovereign Isle is she.

Chaste goddess.

Rising from the foamy depths.

Gateway.

Distant east and west.

Mother of liberty.

Veronica. Veronica.

Curb your surprise, Signor Venier. It's
vaguely insulting. Signor Venier, don't

be absurd.

I'm not being absurd. I'm just treating
you with the same indifference you

afforded me.

You confuse indifference with honesty.

You confuse honesty with venality. Oh,
you think me venal.

You are a venal cur.

Hello, Marco.

Something I can do for you.

Dear beauty, width, and wealth combined,
gateway to its distant east

and west, mother of liberty, child of
honor, home and hearth and heart

to men of valor.

Perhaps the fair maiden can do better.

Furnace, mother, virgin, queen, and
goddess.

To be all five at once is no mean trick.

If women's last lost Eden are addressed
to be half heart

and poem to every prick.

Who is this girl?

Sweet lagoon that brings

us lovely life

Rank

with greed and trade

devouring strife

Lady Venice, her bauble self does show.

Her raiment as the moon doth glow.

Her wisdom, her wisdom shines bright as
envious day.

Her wives, like booty, are locked

away.

Never ever hide that face again.

Children, my dear, are a deficit.

It's not infallible.

It's more comfortable than a turtle
shell.

So?

You didn't tell me everything.

How could I?

They won't all be Rambertans.

Honor us with a poem, Signora Veronica.

I would be too humbled before so
eloquent a gathering of mine.

Make us laugh as you did before.

Perhaps if I am clever next time I shall
make you weep. Ah, you shall make me

weep if you do not give me leave to see
you again.

Thursday?

Every Thursday.

I shall count the hours in between.

Scrape any lower, you can have shoes for
earrings.

Why, Marco Venier, I do believe you're
jealous.

One can only be jealous of what one
cannot have. And you cannot have me.

There's not a woman in Venice I can't
have. And there's not a man in Venice

I can't have.

We are so alike, you and me.

We both know that love is inconvenient,
if not impossible.

So why not enjoy what little we're
allowed together?

I'm all bugged out.

Well?

Well, uh... Ah.

Well, I see that you're enjoying
yourself.

Yes, thank you, Senor Veneer.

Domenico.

Otherwise, you shall make me feel very
old. Oh, let me help you. No, no, no.

It's not a sight for such beautiful
eyes.

I'm not afraid of flesh.

The man who bid you rhyme, Francesco
Martiningo.

Admiral of our fleet.

Andrea Tron. Whatever you do, don't make
him mad.

Bishop de la Torre.

He said his collection of paintings is
surpassed only by his collection of

women.

So many.

Biblical.

Ramberti, you know.

Minister of Defense. I tell you now,
he's in love with you.

You say that as if you thought it a
disease.

You think perhaps I want you for myself?

I would not presume.

Pity.

I was flattered to think you might
harbor such suspicions.

Under the circumstances.

I will be happy to attend to you under
any circumstances.

All the best courtesans have one.

Senora, Senor Marcovini wishes your
audience.

A peacock does not an inheritance make.

Look at these cameras.

Charming spectacle.

I've seen better.

Must be interesting being in a room full
of men, most of whom you've seen with

their pants down.

Put it all in some kind of perspective.

I was wondering, um, I would... if
perhaps we might exchange

verse again.

Some night.

Veronica.

We can't afford one another, Mathieu.
We're both courtiers singing for our

supper.

What was Cousin Matthew about?

The pleasures of poetry.

Did you enjoy the hunt?

Well, the hunt possesses, doesn't it,
such a cruel beauty?

Much like your own.

Is my beauty cruel?

Oh, I think so.

To those that you refuse, yes.

It is only my refusal that arouses your
longing.

You underrate yourself.

Flatterer. Put it to the test, say.

Yes, and then see if you're rid of me.

See, if I'm right, you'll tower of me,
and if you're right,

I'll tower of you.

Maybe we should just stay as we are.

You know, I do regret the... the hurt
that I caused you.

Her heart is higher up.

Her father owns half of Lombardy, and
her aunt is the Pope's niece. An

with his family is a godsend, Marco.

Marco, you will marry Giulia D 'Alezzi.

For Venice, for no other reason.

If I didn't know you better, I'd say you
had the feigned indifference of a man

in love.

Go on, son.

Tell the truth and shame the devil.

So the Turks are on the move again?

Felton wants the Mediterranean for his
bathing pool.

What is that heavenly thing?

Amen.

Veronica!

Veronica!

I'm an ass!

Veronica!

Veronica.

My little poetess.

I'm an ass!

You are the brightest.

My uncle tells me I

have the feigned indifference of a man

Of a man about to be married.

And getting married, Veronica,
congratulate

me.

Felicitations on your grand match.

Ah, generously put.

Do you love her?

Do I have to?

I hope it's a profitable union.

Do you like poetry?

I know the song.

Tell me a secret.

I have no secrets.

Everyone has secrets.

All right.

Tell me a desire.

Deep desire.

I hope to give you many strong sons.

No, I mean... something... for you.

Something just for you.

To be a good wife to you is my only
desire.

"'Tis not wanton flesh, but love that
brings me shame.

"'Knocked by fate, imprisoned by my
womb.

"'By jealousy possessed, which flow
consumes.

"'In ice -cold, gloomy, vicious flame.

"'I love the very weapons which me
wound.

Lucky to the man that wins by your
poetry.

The only form she's mastered is a horse.

Honestly, I didn't think Uncle was still
capable of getting it up.

What did you do to him to get him to
publish his little pile of ditties?

Won't give the time of day to his own
flesh and blood.

She worked for it.

Ha.

I'll bet she worked for it.

What do you cost these days, Veronica?

If your prick is as limp as your verse,
no price could possibly purchase time

enough.

Mafio!

Just making a point, cuz.

Very brave, cuz. What point would that
be?

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

I apologize.

Happy in the guts to try again, blade to
blade, um, pen to pen.

Madonna Veronica.

Whoa!

Veritably unique whore.

Amazing.

And rhyme.

And more.

Still, it's best to slut.

With every horny mutt.

You pride yourself on art and letters
and fucking best your manly best.

I saved the goodly wives of Venice from
their husbands' lustful men.

Please gladly...

I confess I fuck divinely those who love
and well -offind me. I

confess I fuck divinely those who richly
wine and dine

me.

On

the

page or on the sheet?

You'll never find a tongue more sweet.

On the page or on the sheet.

On the page or on the sheet.

Greet, greet.

On the page or on the sheet. A greater
hack you'll never meet.

You quite like a sailor.

Recant the curse you give my kind.

Admit I have as you a heart and mind.

A greedy hand and empty heart is all
that rests your legs apart.

I should -

How did you let this paragon of cities
turn into a cesspit of vice and

depravity? For as the waters flow
through Venice every day and wash away

filth, so the Lord will wash away this
evil.

Do you not agree, my friend?

I think not.

A soul in torment is a soul without God.

All flesh is grass.

We must all meet our maker. To this end,
we must all come, even Venetians.

You can be saved, my brother.

It's your desire that makes you weak.

You can cure me of my desire, young
idealist?

No.

I can't.

Tonight's too many hours away.

My affections aren't mine to give you
tonight.

What?

I have mouths to feed like you.

Well, I'll support you. No.

No, there will be no money between us.
So you'd continue with this life?

I have no choice.

This is the life I was given.

No.

You do have a choice.

If I were yours alone, your property
chased and silent, you'd be entirely

Am I?

If you cared for me, you could... Not do
this. Do not ask of me what you cannot

give yourself.

Your wife is waiting.

What ails you, Marco?

What do you mean?

I want to be a good wife.

Pending deprivation always makes me
hungry.

My dear, you're not eating.

But you are, though, darling.

There'll be no more of these little
delicacies if the Sovereign turns nasty.

Why are the bells ringing at this time
of night?

Marco!

Marco!

Malton has a pact.

He took eight ships near Malta.

If we don't sail for Cyprus by Easter,
we won't be sailing back.

Sooner, I think. If we can't rally
France, we won't be sailing back.

The Turks have three ships. There are
one. Will the King of France help us?

If we amuse him. King Henry's a boy in
man's britches.

A powerful boy. A boy, nonetheless.

He commands a lot of ships and has no
love for the Turks.

Your wife believes she has bewitched
you.

What harm is there in bewitching a
married man?

That man has to have heirs. He's to be a
senator soon.

So he shall.

What God and greed have joined together.

Let no love put us under.

The woman you love is not good.

Not pure, not meek.

I'm a courtesan. It's the only thing you
let me do and I don't. I can't bear it.

I can't bear it. I know I have no right.

I won't.

Share you. But I must share you. I must
bear God. I have no choice. No, please

don't envy Julia. She will never have
what you have.

Please trust me.

I don't know how.

I'll earn your trust.

Let me.

Look after Warren, Dad.

I'll be your private whore.

No, don't ever say that.

You're Veronica Franco.

You're a poet.

And you're my lady.

Answer my appointments, please.

It's a treacherous game you're playing,
my little idiot.

You outdid me long ago.

I know that.

And the irony is, it's not because
you're prettier than I was, because

not.

Nor that you're a better lay than I was,
because you aren't.

It's because you are smarter than I am.
You have a gift.

Don't throw it away. For God's sake,
Mother, haven't I done enough?

He's a client like all the others. Love
him and you lose.

I must go. King Henry's coming.

I'll get my things.

Ah,

it's been selfish of you, nephew,
keeping her head in the way. We could

counsel. You came back just in time to
seduce the French king.

He's arriving tomorrow.

He'd let all Paris burn for a good lay.
He'll hardly fight for Venice. Depends

on how well Venice lays him.

I don't mind fighting, but I prefer to
fight a war that I can win. Without

France's ships, it's a suicide mission.

Simple as that.

All right, sir, the Navy is housed on
board.

Glorious architecture.

Indeed.

Good Henry! Good Henry! We must fight!
We must find the infidel! Here! Oh, we

could make him a frog! Oh, we could find
him at home!

Take his papers!

No! I'm a man of God! I give you this
paper!

France has them too. You're a heretic to
a zealot. I'm not so serious.

Zealots are creating difficulties
everywhere.

The captains tell us the Muslim Turks
have been spotted near Cyprus.

Rather presumptuous, don't you think?

Rather presumptuous, don't you agree, to
think the Christian church wouldn't

come to its defence?

What about these courtesans Venice is so
famous for?

I'm sure the Sultan is far too
experienced to gamble his own... But

He got them nearby.

Who's that?

She's not with the others.

Veronica Franco, Your Excellency.

The poetess.

She caught us.

She is, Your Highness.

Tell her to come forward.

You do me great honor, Majesty.

I take you from the one you love.

I come willingly.

You have to say that because I'm a king.

I have to say that because Vannis needs
you.

What do you yearn for, King Henry?

You've heard the rumors, Veronica.

Yes, sir.

King is a poet.

What do you really yearn for, King
Henry?

Tears.

Tears for him? Your tears.

You yearn for my tears.

And what do I yearn for?

Why don't we find out?

You'll get your ship.

How it took him? A national asset.

More than a hundred French ships.

Perhaps we should make you ambassador to
the emperor.

He doesn't deserve that.

Would he sooner we didn't get the ships?

He would rather he had the right to
refuse even a king your hand.

I could not refuse.

Couldn't you?

I think you like it.

And you like what it had made me.

I don't like what it makes me.

Well, then why did you not stop me?

You're not mine to stop.

And whose fault is that?

You sleep with Julia every night for
duty's sake.

I slept with the King of France once for
duty's sake. Who does not forgive?

Perhaps I just can't live with it.

Marco? Marco!

I pray God to watch over you.

Save your prayers, Veronica.

The devil's got my heart now.

God has and it's gone.

We were hoping you could tell us what
was happening with the war.

What do you know?

Just that we're fighting the Turks
again.

That's all.

The Sultan centers an ultimatum.

Either we surrender Cyprus or he takes
it by force. Our fleets have headed east

to defend it. Is Cyprus so important
that we must send our husbands away to

battle? Without Cyprus, we lose control
over the eastern Mediterranean.

If they cannot be contained, the Turks
will find their way to Christian shores.

I know we own it, but where exactly is
Cyprus? My husband, do you know if he is

alive or dead?

Alive and well, Senor Bragada.

And mine.

The Admiral is alive and a hero.

And my husband.

Who is your husband?

Vico. My husband is Pietro Vico.

Well, he's young and strong. I'm sure
he'll come home safely.

You know her husband well.

Not at all well, but his reputation
precedes him.

Go on, ask her.

Ask her what you're longing to.

Ask her what draws her husband back to
her.

Again and again.

Like pigs to a...

The Latin for banana is ariana.

Banana tree is parla.

A woman's greatest and most hard -won
asset is an education.

Just because you can say it in Latin
doesn't make it any less obscene.

Just because you took a vow doesn't mean
you know how to love.

Either that whore leaves or I leave. No
Christian woman could tolerate such

behavior under her roof.

You're unfit to be a mother.

At least I am a mother.

You won't be once Lorenzo is dead.

Thank you for your assistance, Senor
Franco.

He's alive.

You made many enemies today.

They were already enemies.

Now they will become more so.

Is that why you came to woman?

When my daughter is old enough, I want
you to make her a courtesan.

I will not pimp your daughter.

The life you live.

The freedom that you have.

Will you deny my daughter the same
chance?

Turn right up ahead.

Look.

Look outside.

This

is where

we go to die.

It will not end here.

Livia, Venice's reigning Venus.

A jealous lover to that?

Who wants her now?

My cage seems bigger than yours, but
it's still a cage.

Do you want sympathy for me? You will
get it. I don't want your sympathy.

Do you know what my daughter's nurse
told her this morning?

That in a girl's voice lies temptation.

A known fact.

Eloquence in a woman means promiscuity.

Promiscuity of the mind leads to
promiscuity of the body.

She doesn't believe her yet, but she
will.

She'll grow up just like her mother.

She'll marry, bear children, and honor
her family.

Spend her youth in needlepoint and rue
the day she was born a girl.

And when she dies...

She'll wonder why she obeyed all the
rules of God and country, because no

biblical hell could ever be worse than
this state of perpetual inconsequence.

Silent God ignores my prayer and renders
lost what once was fair.

Once blissful, fortune's favoured city.

Now wheeled fate turns.

No trace of pity.

Citizens of Venice!

Look around you now at the disease and
death that have taken over our... one

beautiful city, and tell me this plague
is not a punishment from God.

We are surrounded by harlots and
courtesans.

We must cast out those who tempt us, for
we are a city of

shame, of fornication, and carnal
practices that defy description.

We will go the way of Sodom and Gomorrah
and become dust in the

sands of time.

I can't stand this. I can't stand this.
I can't stand this.

Please forgive me.

Thank you.

Senora Veronica Franco, I hereby summon
you to appear before the tribunal of the

Holy Inquisition.

You have no jurisdiction here, Senator.
I speak for the church.

The Inquisition?

In Venice?

We have 56 ,000 dead.

Living want answers.

They may be the wrong answers, but they
want them just the same.

Just be glad those bastards aren't
burning us out.

You can stop it.

If the Delge of Venice were to come out
in defence of a notorious courtesan...

Now she's notorious.

Before she was a national asset.

It would topple the government.

These are grim times, Senator.

I can no longer be a party to this
travesty.

You're an elected official.

You cannot refuse your office.

If you compel me to continue, then you
compel me to condone these proceedings.

Am I mistaken, or is Venice still a free
republic?

Do you think ruining yourself will help
her?

By order of the Pope, the Holy
Inquisition has come to Venice to seek

and belief anathema to the Church.

Veronica Franco, you have been denounced
on the charge of witchcraft, a mortal

sin punishable by death.

Should you confess and repent at any
time during these proceedings, you will

masterfully welcomed back into the bosom
of the Holy Mother Church.

Your Holiness, I may only report...
Silence!

The accused shall make no utterance
except to answer our questions or to

confess.

Proceed, Monseigneur.

Venice.

Ever a noble republic.

Home of learning.

Art.

Commerce has been brought low by war and
plague.

Do you know why, Senora Franco?

I am not that wise, Your Grace.

Tess, how many of the worthy men of this
city have you taken into your chamber?

I have not counted my lovers.

More than 20?

You will answer the question.

Yes.

More than 100?

I don't know. You cannot remember them.

Yet for each you paraded your milky
breast and hair of spun copper.

For each you learned his unique, favored
touch and enchanted him to believe he

was the only man in the universe.

What was the average number in a single
week?

I told you I enchanted no one. Did you
feign love with more than ten weekly? Or

would perhaps five or six been enough to
sate you?

I never feigned love. Then for what did
they pay you?

For the dream of love.

As it cannot exist in this world that
you have created.

For the hope there might exist on earth
some corner of this paradise. Paradise?

When 56 ,000 have fallen.

You say this.

You.

Who fill your home with feasting and
dancing while Venice suffers.

Who creates a sumptuous world of flesh.

and depravity of orgiastic rights
invoking the devil. This is your

only devilry here is your spite.
Silence!

He's jealous of what he cannot have. You
will not intrude into the proceedings

of the Inquisition. I'm a senator of
Venice. The Inquisition is here by our

consent. And this is an ecclesiastical
court.

You are here by my consent.

This is a personal vendetta.

You will abide by our rules, Senator, or
be removed.

Is that understood?

Is that understood?

The senator speaks the truth.

I was bewitched by this woman.

In my weakness, I fell under her spell.
It's a pathetic ruin.

It is only by the grace of God that I
stand here today.

I did not seek your love.

Because I could not pay your fee.

No. No? No, I loved another.

In other words, you cast your spell over
all who cross your path, whether you

want them or not. You compel sacred
love.

To garner riches. What is this if not
witchcraft? No.

No? Did you ever give yourself to a man
who could not pay your fee? I gave my

heart for riches. Answer the question. I
did what was necessary to live. Did you

ever give yourself to a man who could
not pay your fee? What profession will

allow me?

How shall I survive if I cannot marry?
You will answer the question. Why would

you determine to damn me whatever I say?

Look at her.

Feel her wrath.

Her power.

She, who lures the noble fathers of
Venice from their wives, their children,

their very ability to lead the Republic.

It is she and her kind who have turned
God's hands against us. Your Grace, Your

Grace, we must do our duty.

Veronica Franco, you hover at the brink
of extermination and hell.

You will return to this room tomorrow to
hear God's merciful judgment, and I

hope... To repent before that judgment
takes its course.

Remove the prisoner.

You must save yourself.

How?

Confess whatever foolishness they put
before you. Father, I am awake.

What does it matter what you say to
these hypocrites? I will be saying it.

There is no honor with fools like these.

God will forgive you.

Marco, if I give them that lie, I give
them my soul.

I'll have everything I ever was.

My love, my words, my heart. Yes, but
you would live.

I've let you go too many times.

I can't do it again.

There is no choice.

I will never see you again.

Veronica Franco, you have been denounced
a sorceress.

Either confess and plead mercy or stand
to receive my judgment.

I will confess, Your Grace.

That will please God.

Proceed.

I confess.

That as a young girl, I loved a man who
would not marry me for want of a dowry.

I confess I had a mother who taught me a
different way of life.

One I resisted at first, but learned to
embrace.

I confess I became a courtesan.

Traded yearning for power, welcomed many
rather than be owned by one. Your

Grace, he does not speak to the charge.

I confess I embraced a whore's freedom
over a wife's obedience.

This is not repentant.

Your Grace, what am I to do? I must
confess my evil as the Church instructs.

These are my sins.

Your Grace, her mortal sins are not at
issue.

She must repent witchcraft or be
condemned.

She's just beginning, Your Grace.
Perhaps she heads in that direction.

you have been warned. The Church cannot
deny her right to seek God's mercy.

That's the law.

Confession is sacrosanct. Do not
instruct me on the laws of the Church.

Then I call upon the Doge to demand that
the Inquisition abide by them.

Christian mercy is gone, then at least
Venetian justice still exists.

I pray your grace has heard enough of
this.

Does it be odd, Your Holiness, that the
Holy Mother Church would deny a sinner

confession?

I see no harm in hearing her.

She will save or damn herself.

The prisoner has already damned herself.

But if it pleases the esteemed Doge of
Venice, she may continue her heresy.

I confess I find more ecstasy in passion
than in prayer.

Such passion is prayer.

I confess.

I confess I pray still to feel the touch
of my lover's lips,

his hands upon me, his arms enfolding
me.

Veronica, stop!

Such surrender has been mine.

I confess I hunger still to be filled
and inflamed.

To melt into the dream of us.

Beyond this troubled place.

To where we are not even ourselves.

To know that always, always this is
mine.

Your Grace, is this necessary?

She hoped to bewitch us all.

If this had not been mine, if I'd lived
another way, a child to a husband's

whim, my soul hardened from lack of
touch and lack of love, I confess such

endless days and nights would be
punishment far greater than any you

Ed. Are you finished?

No, Your Grace.

You, all of you.

You who hunger so for what I give but
cannot bear to see such power in a

You call God's greatest gift ourselves.

Our yearning, our need to love. You call
it filth and sin and heresy. Enough.

One last time before you are condemned.

Do you repent or not?

I repent there was no other way open to
me.

I do not repent my life.

Then Veronica Franklin of the Holy
Inquisition has heard the evidence

you and is satisfied.

In the name of the Pope... No!

There is more confession to be heard. In
the name of the Pope... I demand the

same right of confession.

You are not on trial.

You're still on consecrated ground.

I confess I am her accomplice.

If she is a witch, then I am damned with
her. Damn me, because I do not repent.

I will not live without her.

Your Grace, this is a cynical trick.

He does it to save her. She's a witch!

Proven and convicted, the devil in our
midst, and I am her accomplice.

Condemn her, if you will, but arrest me
too. Arrest the senator of Venice for

witchcraft. Do you think I shrink from
judging the rich and mighty?

No, I welcome it. I wait for the
shackles. He speaks with his heart and

head, Your Grace. Your Grace, he is
blinded by his own lust.

If she is a witch, then so is every
woman in Venice.

Silence! We are a strange city, Your
Holiness.

Perhaps accursed.

Perhaps we live in a peculiar state of
grace.

I am not...

Alone in loving this woman.

Though I love her far, far more than
they.

We accomplices were many.

And proud.

If we do not speak now, if Venice does
not stand up

now and acknowledge who she is, then we
are all damned. Not before this court.

Before eternity.

If what he says is true, then you must
speak the names of your accomplices.

Your Grace, the men who loved her were
under her spell.

They had no volition.

Shall we punish even the victims of her
evil?

If the soul of the city is corrupt, and
you help me root it out, I will spare

your life.

I had no accomplices, Your Grace.

Stand.

Stand!

Stand! All you who defiled your sacred
marriage beds and declare your sin,

up with me!

As we stood against our enemies at sea!

You see, Your Grace, there are no
accomplices.

He does this to rescue her from your
justice.

Then I stand alone for Venice and for
this woman.

Arrest the senator.

His trial will commence tomorrow.

Do you wish to speak?

I repeat, do you have something to say
to this court?

I am standing.

Oh, great.

Perhaps there is another who would like
to stand.

Perhaps we've been hasty, Your Grace.

What are you doing?

Witchcraft may be too harsh a charge.

Is everything I heard about this city
true?

Surely the Holy Inquisition need not
sully its hands with a common whore.

This is a matter for the state.

Don't you think?

I lead this woman to Venice, which
richly deserves her.