La Venere di Cheronea

The story is quite dramatic, set in ancient Greece, and the main character is a girl named Iride who models for an artist who sculpts statues. Iride is the big project as the statue of Aphrodite but the artist loves her, until a wounded soldier appears on the scene, and it changes everything. The soldier is a Macedonian named Laertes who falls on the beach, after suffering a bad attack from soldiers. He's saved by a vision of a woman swimming in the sea, and everything here is almost like "The Little Mermaid". It's a stunning dreamy life Iride has with the sculptor and her loves for Laertes causes trouble.