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 mirth.
We thought ourselves eternal then,
Our glory sealed by God's own pen.
But paradise, we found, is always frail.
Against man's fear, will always fail.
Is there anything wrong, mama?
Nothing at all.
Oh, I feel...
I feel faint.
Come on. Oh, i feel faint.
Oh!
What are you doing?
Come on, beatrice.
Quick.
Beatrice: slow down!
Veronica!
Ohh!
Look.
Hello!
Look, there's your brother.
Hello, venice!
What if he sees us?
He's not looking at us, bea.
He's looking at them.
Hello, venice!
Did you get my letters?
You didn't get them?
I'm not talking to you anyway.
You broke my heart.
Come on.
Bea, come on.
Man: they like you.
All this for me?
Oh!
Oh, livia.
O glorious maid
Of virtues fair,
With bosoms like those, who could care?
My rod,
Milady--
A hand.
Come.
Hardly.
It's venus come to bless the venetians!
How are you?
Beatrice!
Hello.
You smell like a sewer.
Oh, thank you. That's a fine welcome, little sister.
Look at you.
You might make a wife after all.
Did 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 venetian.
Nor can french, nor can florentine,
Nor any woman from europe to the levant.
No doubt you've sampled them all.
All but idle amusement until you blossomed.
Man: marco.
What keeps a son from greeting his parents?
Beauty, i think.
Mmm!
Oh, marco, marco.
You're drenched.
Come on. You'll catch your death.
Ah, Veronica.
I thought you were going to miss dinner again.
Young ladies have better things to do
Than poison their minds with books.
Mother: such as?
Such as minding their manners.
The butcher said he must be paid.
Sir, do you know when you sail?
Yes, next week.
Mmm. I wish i could with you, sail the high seas.
Oh, Veronica. High seas, indeed.
She'll never find a husband
If she carries on like a child.
How do people marry, mother?
They strike a bargain.
What's to bargain over if you're in love?
Marriage is a contract, Veronica,
Not a perpetual tryst.
Man: have you got someone in particular in mind?
Sera!
Ooh, love poetry, eh?
Sera, give it back.
"Life's harshness all forgave,
"Heart's yearning met,
When, guard your soul--"
Must be true love.
I'd have made a dashing courtier, don't you think?
Or maybe a pirate. Ha!
Ha!
Ooh!
Disengage to the left. And again.
Back.
Back, extend, and lunge.
Back, extend, and--
? Loveliness of thee ?
? Nor in hope ?
? The world can show ?
? A little love for me ?
? But since that i must--?
? I really love you ?
? Please... ?
? But since that i must die at last ?
? 'Tis best to use myself in jest ?
? Don't tell mama, she will want to castrate me ?
? But since that I ?
? Must die at last ?
? 'Tis best... ?
And where might you be going?
Nowhere.
That nowhere has a nice tenor.
Veronica's on the canal
With marco venier--
Alone.
Mother franco.
Oh, elena, don't call me that.
It 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 venier.
He'll never marry her if he has her first.
Marry her?
A bride of marco's will need a king's ransom.
I see...
my fated 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.
[Both laugh]
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.
I mistook the asking in your eyes.
Do you not like my kiss?
I wish it were not a sin to have liked it so.
God made sin
That we might know his mercy.
Veronica: 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?
For my bride.
A little wedding trinket.
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 shine.
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.
The roman court doesn't have to sleep with him.
Oh, you'd 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 isn't as rich as lorenzo gritti.
Do honor to the houses of gritti and venier.
For venice.
I've seen how you look at her
And how she looks at you. I know that look.
Father.
Do not underestimate love's allure, marco.
Enjoy it, but...
guard your head and your heart.
You cannot marry her.
I know.
Pietro, come.
I wish that were our bridal chamber.
Oh.
You think me terribly wicked for saying that.
No.
You know we can't marry.
I know only what you tell me.
I must marry according to my station
And my family's will.
Well, then why are you here?
Because i could not stay away.
Well, then don't.
My marriage must be a marriage of state.
My people are true citizens 700 years back.
A coat of arms does not an inheritance make.
I speak of love, and you talk of money.
I speak of my duty.
And what of your heart?
It 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.
But i want you.
Not enough.
Daughter, you have reached too high.
I told you, marriage is a contract.
2 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 have seen you watching them.
I've seen you mesmerized by them.
You will become a courtesan...
like your mother used to be.
You were a courtesan?
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 his posting,
And i am too old.
It is you
Who must support us now.
Look at these hands.
Soft.
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.
Veronica, 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.
The first secret of all great courtesans--
You must know pleasure to give pleasure.
Beauty is a manifestation of the divine.
That theory built the sistine chapel,
And it'll do the same for you.
Mmm.
Height is an advantage to women as well as men.
Carriage creates the first impression.
Aah!
Come with me, Veronica.
Mother, we can't go in there.
Ladies can't go in there.
Courtesans can.
The emperor pericles
Relied more for policy on his mistress
Than he ever did on his lieutenants.
Courtesans, my dear,
Are the most educated women in the world.
The 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.
Aspasia.
She could seduce a man at 20 paces
Without revealing an inch of flesh.
How?
With her mind.
Desire begins in the mind.
I don't understand.
No, you don't.
Think of marco.
I know you know anger.
Try disdain.
Amusement.
Submission.
Rapture.
Now...
make him believe
That he is the only man in the universe.
Who taught you?
Your grandmother.
In order to choose your lovers wisely,
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 licking sweets.
Your teeth with restraint.
Just enough to keep him wanting more.
It's wanting that keeps us alive.
Paola.
Minister ramberti.
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.
Good luck.
May i call? Hmm?
May i call?
Oh.
Hmm.
Lovely.
This is my first bet.
Your first?
Unmistakably.
I'm honored.
Repent your empty excesses!
There is no comfort here!
?Ave maria?
Repent! You, sir!
?Ave maria...?
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.
Hmm.
This is no company for one so fair.
Venice 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 useful?
Give us a rhyme.
I'm no performing monkey for the idle masses.
Since 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 to the most distant east and west.
Wine?
Please.
Lover of liberty.
Child of honor.
Veronica?
Cover your surprise, signore venier.
It's vaguely insulting.
Signore 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?
Here beauty, wit and wealth combine.
Gateway twixt 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.
A duel!
Venice.
Mother,
Virgin, queen,
And Goddess.
To be all 5 at once is no mean trick...
if women's last lost eden
Are addressed to be...
hearth, heart and home
To every...
prick.
Who is she? Who is this girl?
Hmm.
Sweet lagoon...
that brings us lovely life.
Rank with greed and trades...
devouring strife.
Lady venice,
Her baubled 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.
Brava, brava!
Never ever hide that face again.
Children, my dear, are a deficit.
It's not infallible,
But it's more comfortable than a turtle shell.
Mmm.
Ohh.
Mmm.
So...
you didn't tell me everything.
How could i?
They won't all be rambertis.
Who's next?
Honor us with a poem, signora Veronica.
I would be too humbled
Before so eloquent a gathering of minds.
Make us laugh as you did before.
Perhaps if i am clever next time,
I shall make you weep.
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're gonna 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
That 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 booked up.
Well?
Well, what?
Ahh.
Well, i see that you're enjoying yourself.
Yes. Thank you, signore venier.
Dominico.
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 martenengo.
Admiral of our fleet.
Andrea tron.
Whatever you do, don't make him mad.
Bishop de la torre.
It's 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 would be happy to attend to you
Under any circumstances.
Aah!
Whoo!
Ohh!
"All the best courtesans have one."
Signora.
Signore marco venier wishes your audience.
A peacock does not an inheritance make.
Look at these gowns.
Each is a unique work of art in every detail.
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.
Puts it all in some kind of perspective.
I was wondering, um...
i would enjoy it if perhaps we might
Exchange verse again... some night...
Veronica.
We can't afford one another, maffio.
We're both courtiers, singing for our supper.
Of course.
What was cousin maffio on 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.
I heard "see."
If i'm right, you'll tire of me,
And if you're right, i'll tire of you.
Maybe we should just stay as we are.
You know, i do regret the...
the hurt that i caused you.
You own my heart.
Your heart is higher up.
Her father owns half of lombardy,
And her aunt is the pope's niece.
An alliance with this family is a Godsend, marco.
Marco, you will marry Giulia de lezze.
For venice, if 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.
The sultan wants the mediterranean
For his bathing pool.
What is that heavenly thing?
Ermine.
Marco, drunkenly: Veronica!
I'm an ass!
Veronica!
Veronica.
My little poetess.
I'm an ass!
You are the brightest star in the venetian firmament.
The cold-- Excuse me.
The coldest, but also the brightest.
My uncle tells me
I have the feigned indifference
Of a man...
of a man about to be married.
I'm getting married, Veronica.
Congratulate me.
Felicitations on your grand match.
Well, how generously put.
Do you love her?
Do i have to?
Well, i hope it's a profitable union.
Do you like poetry?
I know the psalms.
Tell me a secret.
I have no secrets.
Everyone has secrets.
All right. Tell me a desire.
A 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.
Veronica: 'tis not wanton flesh,
But love that brings me shame.
Mocked by fate, imprisoned by my womb.
By jealousy possessed, which slow consumes
In ice-Cold, gloomy, vicious flame.
I love the very weapons which me wound.
Lucky is the man that can inspire
Your poet's heart.
The only form she's mastered is a whore's.
Honestly, i didn't think uncle was still capable
Of getting it up.
What did you do to him
To get him to publish this little pile of ditties?
He 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 can possibly purchase stamina.
Maffio!
Just making a point, cous'.
Very brave, cous'. What point would that be?
I'm sorry.
I apologize.
Have you the guts to try again,
Blade to blade and pen to pen?
Madonna Veronica...
veritably unique whore...
um...may sing and rhyme and more.
Still, is at best a slut...
with every horny mutt.
You pride yourself on arts and letters
And fucking best your manly betters.
Ha!
Ow!
I save the goodly wives of venice
From their husbands' lustful menace!
Then you confess you love...
to rut...
and your beauty's gladly stuffed.
Marco: now, now, now.
A mistake.
I confess i fuck divinely those who love
And well opine me.
[Mocking] "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...
maffio to himself: on the page or on the sheet...
uh...greet...bleat.
On the page or on the sheet,
A greater hack you'll never meet!
Ugh!
You fight like a sailor.
I learned from a sailor.
Now stop stalling.
Recant the curse you give my kind.
Admit i have, as you, a heart and mind.
A greedy hand and empty heart
Is all the wrests your legs apart.
Hyah!
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 the 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.Ican't.
Tonight's too many hours away.
My affections aren't mine to give you tonight.
What?
I have mouths to feed like you.
I'll support you.
No.
No. There will be no money between us.
So you'd...
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, chaste and silent,
You'd soon tire of me.
You're wrong.
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 sultan turns nasty.
Why are the bells ringing at this time of night?
Marco! Marco!
The sultan has attacked.
Sunk eight ships near malta.
If we don't sail for cyprus by easter,
We won't be sailing back.
Marco: sooner, i think.
I we can't rally france, we won't be sailing back.
The turks have 3 ships to our 1.
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.
Domenico: who 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 asunder.
The woman you love is not good.
Not pure, not meek.
I am a courtesan.
It's the only thing you let me do,
And i do it well.
I can't bear it. I can't bear it.
I know i have no right,
But i won't share you.
But i must share you.
I must bear that. I have no choice.
Please don't envy Giulia.
She will never have what you have.
Please trust me.
I don't know how.
I'll earn your trust.
Let me.
You'll go off to war and die.
No. Not with you to come back to.
Stay with me for as long as we have.
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.
Cancel 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 you're 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 hidden away.
We could use her 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.
It's as simple as that.
It's all right, sir. The navy is now strong.
It may be strong, but we still can add more ships.
Glorious architecture.
Indeed.
Good henry! Good henry, we must fight!
We must fight the infidels here
Before we can beat them abroad.
Or we can fight them at home.
Take this paper to the king.
No! I'm a man of God!
Give him this paper!
France has them, too.
I prefer a heretic to a zealot. They're not so serious.
The zealots are creating difficulties everywhere.
Our captains tell us
The muslim turks have been spotted near cyprus.
Hmm.
Rather presumptuous, don't you think?
Rather presumptuous, don't you agree,
To think the christian church wouldn't come to its defense?
What about these courtesans venice is so famous for?
I'm sure the sultan is far too experienced to gamble his own--
I'd like to meet them.
You got them nearby?
Who's that?
She's not with the others.
Veronica franco, your excellency.
The poetess.
Is she a courtesan?
She is, your highness.
Tell her to come forward.
I want her.
Most exquisite.
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 venice needs you.
What do you yearn for, king henry?
Unh!
You've heard the rumors, Veronica.
Yes, sire.
The king's a pervert.
What do you really yearn for, king henry?
Tears.
Tears for whom?
Your tears.
You yearn for my tears?
I don't think so.
Then what do i yearn for?
Why don't we find out?
Arms, hup!
You'll get your ships.
Poet to kings.
A national asset. More than a hundred French ships.
Perhaps we should make you ambassador to the emperor.
He doesn't deserve her.
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 has made me.
I don't like what it makes me.
Then why did you not stop me?
You're not mine to stop.
And whose fault is that?
You sleep with Giulia 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.
But i love you.
Marco?
Marco!
I pray God to watch over you.
Save your prayers, Veronica.
The devil's got my heart now. God hasn't a chance.
Raah!
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?
Their sultan sent us 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, signora pregadan.
And mine?
The admiral is alive and a hero.
And my husband?
Who is your husband?
Vicco. My husband is pietro vicco.
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 our husbands back to her...
again and again.
Like pigs to a trough.
The latin for banana isariane.
Banana tree ispalle.
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 hears of this.
Thank you for your assistance, signora 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 warn me?
When my daughter is old enough,
I want you to make her a courtesan.
I will not pimp your daughter.
Look at the life you live.
The freedom that you have.
Will you deny my daughter the same chance?
Turn right up ahead.
Look.
Look outside.
Get away!
This is where we go to die.
You will not end here.
Livia, venice's reigning venus.
Get away!
A jealous lover did that.
Who wants her now?
My cage seems bigger than yours,
But it's still a cage.
If you want sympathy from me, you won't 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.
Veronica: silent God ignores my prayer
And renders lost what once was fair.
Once blissful fortune's favored city,
Now wheeled fate turns,
No trace of pity.
Man: citizens of venice!
Look around you now at the disease and death
That have taken over our once 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 gomorra
And become dust in the sands of time!
Ramberti: marco!
There is news from venice.
Man: the corruption of their flesh,
The paint on their faces,
The vile coloring of their hair,
Their wanton dress,
Look on them, and look within yourselves at the lust!
My life...
you're alive.
Forgive me. Forgive me.
Please forgive me.
I'm sorry.
Back.
Woman: it's God's vengeance on you, whore.
Woman: die!
Signora 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.
The living want answers.
They may be wrong, but they want them.
Just be glad those bastards aren't burning us out.
You can stop it!
If the doge of venice were to come out in defense
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 are an elected official.
You cannot refuse your office.
If you compel me to continue,
Then you compel me condone these proceedings.
Am i mistaken, or is venice still a free republic?
Do you think ruining yourself will help her?
By the order of the pope, the holy inquisition
Has come to venice to seek out heresy and beliefs
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 be mercifully welcomed back
Into the bosom of the holy mother church.
Your holiness, i may only--
Silence!
The accused shall make no utterance
Except to answer our questions or to confess.
Proceed, monsignor.
Venice...
ever a noble republic...
home of learning...
art...
commerce...
has been brought low by war and plague.
Do you know why, signora franco?
I am not that wise, your grace.
Tell us...
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 copper hair.
For each you learned his unique, favorite touch,
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 10 weekly?
Or were perhaps 5 or 6 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've 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 rites invoking the devil?
The only devilry here is your spite!
Silence!
He is jealous of what he cannot have!
You will not intrude into the proceedings.
I am a senator of venice.
The inquisition is here by our consent.
This is an ecclesiastical court.
You are here by my consent.
This is a personal vendetta.
You will abide by our rules or be removed.
Is that understood?
The senator speaks the truth.
I was bewitched by this woman.
In my weakness, i fell under her spell
To 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?
I gave my heart where riches--
Answer the question!
I did what was necessary to live!
Did you ever give yourself to a man who could not pay?
What other profession will you allow me?
How shall i survive if i cannot marry?
You will answer the question!
Why, when you're determined 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!
She and her kind have turned God's hand 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 to whatever foolishness they put before you.
That i am a witch?
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.
Renounce everything i ever was.
My love, my words, my heart--
Yes, but you would live.
As someone else.
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, she does not speak to the charge.
I confess i embraced a whore's freedom
Over a wife's obedience.
This is not repentance.
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.
Senator, 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!
If christian mercy is gone,
Then at least venetian justice still exists.
I pray your grace has heard enough of this.
It does seem 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!
Save yourself, please.
Such surrender has been mine.
I confess i hunger still to be filled and enflamed.
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 hopes to bewitch us all.
If this had not been mine,
If i had 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 can mete out.
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 woman,
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 franco, the holy inquisition
Has heard the evidence against 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!
We are 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 this to save her.
She's a witch!
Proven and convicted, the devil in our midst,
And i am her accomplice!
Condemn me if you will, but arrest me, too!
Arrest the senator of venice for witchcraft!
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 not his head, 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.
But 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!
All of you who defiled your sacred marriage beds
And declare your sin! Stand up with me!
As we stood against our enemies at sea!
There.
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.
Minister.
Do you wish to speak?
I repeat, do you have something to say to this court?
I am standing.
Your grace.
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 leave this woman to venice...
which richly deserves her.