Original subtitles

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.