Een schitterend gebrek (A Beautiful Imperfection)

What determined infamous seducer Giacomo Casanova's view on women? According to Arthur Japin's Libris Literature Prize-winning novel Een schitterend gebrek (translated as In Lucia's Eyes) - the inspiration for the film - it's the womanizer's childhood sweetheart Lucia. The two fall in love as teenagers and promise each other everlasting fidelity, but one day Lucia disappears. Casanova's life collapses. Relentlessly, he embarks on an unstoppable hunt to conquer women - unaware of the fact that Lucia has fled because her face has been disfigured by a virus. Sixteen years later in Amsterdam, she has reinvented herself as a veiled courtesan. The two run into each other again. The flame rekindles. Yet, he can't recognise her. Will Lucia reveal her true identity? Fifteen years ago, Stephen Fry wanted to adapt the novel, then photographer Erwin Olaf stepped in, but when the latter fell ill, he passed the project on to Michiel van Erp, who delivers a sumptuous costume drama.