I seldom get the chance to see Dutch films, and that’s one of the reasons I chose to see ‘Een Schitterend Gebrek‘ (2024 – the English title is ‘A Beautiful Imperfection‘). It’s not a 100% Dutch production, but a co-production with Belgian and Italian studios, and it’s spoken in English, which is convenient, because otherwise the film would have had to be spoken in about four languages. The director is Dutch, though. Michiel van Erp is a well-known name in his country, author of television films and documentaries, ‘Een Schitterend Gebrek‘ being his third feature-length fiction film. It’s a period drama based on a novel that in turn develops an episode mentioned in passing in Giacomo Casanova’s memoirs, transforming it into a feminist plea and a meditation on love, beauty, and how we know how to discover and live them beyond appearances.
The story takes place alternately in 1742 and 1758. The young theology student Giacomo Casanova meets, at a wedding in an Italian castle, Lucia, a girl of modest social origin, different from others, with whom he falls in love. The young Lucia, educated and ambitious, dreams of traveling and seeing the world. The two young people promise to marry, but fate will intervene and separate them. 16 years later, Casanova, who has earned his reputation as a conqueror and destroyer of female hearts, meets a famous courtesan, always masked, in Amsterdam, who intrigues him because she seems to be the only woman who resists his advances. He is about to fall in love again. Are the two women the same person?
The story alternates not only two temporal planes, but also two destinies. The woman is forced to fend for herself in a world where women without wealth have as their only commodities for sale – through marriage or prostitution – youth and physical beauty. The man whose love story in his youth had destroyed his illusions about women seems to have become a serial conqueror out of disappointment and perhaps revenge. Can there be a second chance? The woman’s story is in the foreground, especially thanks to the feminist message and the performance of Dar Zuzovsky – an Israeli actress with an international career whom I did not know, but who impressed me in this role. Jonah Hauer-King plays a Casanova who remains somewhat in the background (perhaps intentionally), but who nevertheless receives an interesting motivation for his actions. The historical reconstruction is detailed and precise, supported by cinematography that offers beautiful and appropriate images of the cities of the era – Venice, Amsterdam, Paris. The questions about love and beauty, appearances and feelings are valid at any time. The ending is a bit predictable, but if we have become attached to the main heroine, we are not dissatisfied with it being the way it is. Michiel van Erp‘s film is worth the time spent watching.