Dangerous Beauty (1998)

Jacqueline Bisset: Paola Franco

Photos 

Quotes 

• Paola Franco : [standing next to a young nude man]  If you touch - here.

  Veronica Franco : Amazing.

  Paola Franco : 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 Franco : Desire begins in the mind.

• Paola Franco : Courtesans, my dear, are the most educated women in the world.

• Veronica Franco : How do people marry, Mother?

  Paola Franco : They strike a bargain.

  Veronica Franco : What's to bargain over if you're in love?

  Paola Franco : Marriage is a contract, not a perpetual tryst.

• Paola Franco : Beauty is a manifestation of the divine. That theory built the Sistine Chapel and it'll do the same for you.

• Veronica Franco : Mother, we can't go in there.

  Paola Franco : Ladies can't go in there. Courtesans can.

• Paola Franco : First secret of all great courtesans: You must know pleasure, to give pleasure.

• Paola Franco : 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 - like your mother used to be.

  Veronica Franco : You were a courtesan?

  Paola Franco : One of the best.

• Paola Franco : 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, who quickly turns pliable maiden when they've had a hard day.

• Paola Franco : 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. Aspasia. She could seduce a man at 20 paces without revealing an inch of flesh.

• Paola Franco : 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.

• Paola Franco : Remember, Veronica, love love. But do not love the man, or you'll be in his power.

• Paola Franco : It's a treacherous game you play, 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're not. It's because you are smarter than I am. You have a gift. Don't throw it away!

• Paola Franco : He's a client like all the others. Love him and you lose!