This movie surprised me. I figured that it would be a sappy piece of schlock based on the Netflix sleeve but it had a lot more to recommend it.
It's based on a book called The Honest Courtesan which is based on the historical account of a 16th century Venetian woman named Veronica Franco who rose to prominence as a courtesan after finding out that she didn't have the money to marry, then had to fight accusations of witchcraft from the Inquisition.
16th century Venice was not a good time to be a woman. (Basically any time before the Nineteenth Amendment was a bad time to be a woman.) Unless you were a courtesan. It was the only opportunity to get an education and to take charge of your own destiny. If you were good enough, you could stand shoulder to shoulder with the most powerful men of the day. The only downside is that you'd be an outcast among all the "goodly" married ladies and that you run the risk of being made a scapegoat for a plague and burned at the stake.
At its heart, this is a love story between Veronica and the rich nobleman she was prevented from marrying. You know how much I hate love stories. It is not, as some have intimated, because I lack the capacity to love or am incapable of appreciating romance. It's because most of it is all bullshit and real people don't act like that.
I type this with gritted teeth, but according to the movie, she and her man remained lovers the rest of their lives. So, yes, I suppose it is possible that two people can be meant for one another. Are you happy now?
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