Dangerous Liaisons
Theatrical release poster
Directed byStephen Frears
Screenplay byChristopher Hampton
Based onLes Liaisons dangereuses
1782 epistolary novel
by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos and Les liaisons dangereuses
1985 play
by Christopher Hampton
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyPhilippe Rousselot
Edited byMick Audsley
Music byGeorge Fenton
Production
companies
Distributed byWarner Bros.
Release date
  • December 16, 1988 (1988-12-16) (United States)
Running time
119 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$14 million
Box office$34.7 million

Dangerous Liaisons is a 1988 American period romantic drama film directed by Stephen Frears from a screenplay by Christopher Hampton, based on his 1985 play Les liaisons dangereuses, itself adapted from the 1782 French novel of the same name by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos.[1] It stars Glenn Close, John Malkovich, Michelle Pfeiffer, Uma Thurman, Swoosie Kurtz, Mildred Natwick, Peter Capaldi and Keanu Reeves.

Dangerous Liaisons was theatrically released by Warner Bros. Pictures on December 16, 1988. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, with praise for the performances by Close and Pfeiffer and the screenplay, production values and costumes. Grossing $34.7 million against its $14 million budget, it was a modest box-office success. It received seven nominations at the 61st Academy Awards, including for the Best Picture, and won three: Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Costume Design, and Best Production Design.[2][3]

Plot

In pre-Revolution Paris, the Marquise de Merteuil plots revenge against her ex-lover, the Comte de Bastide, who recently ended their relationship. To soothe her wounded pride and embarrass Bastide, she seeks to arrange the seduction and disgrace of his young virgin fiancée, Cécile de Volanges, who has only recently been presented to society after spending her formative years in the shelter of a convent.

Merteuil calls on the similarly unprincipled Vicomte de Valmont, another ex-lover of hers, to do the deed. Valmont declines, as he is plotting to seduce Madame de Tourvel, the wife of a member of Parliament away in Burgundy and a current houseguest of Valmont's aunt, Madame de Rosemonde. Amused and incredulous at Valmont's hubris in pursuing the chaste, devoutly religious Tourvel, Merteuil ups the ante: if Valmont somehow succeeds in seducing Tourvel and can furnish written proof, Merteuil will sleep with him as well. Never one to refuse a challenge, Valmont accepts.

Tourvel rebuffs all of Valmont's advances. Searching for leverage, he instructs his page Azolan to seduce Tourvel's maid Julie and gain access to Tourvel's private correspondence. One of the letters intercepted is from Cécile's mother and Merteuil's cousin, Madame de Volanges, warning Tourvel that Valmont is nefarious and untrustworthy. Valmont resolves to seduce Cécile as revenge for her mother's accurate denunciation of him.

At the opera, Cécile meets the charming and handsome Chevalier Raphael Danceny, who becomes her music teacher. They fall in love with coaxing from Merteuil, who knows that Danceny, as a nobleman of lesser rank, naive, young, and not particularly wealthy, can never qualify as a bona fide suitor.

Valmont gains access to Cécile's bedchamber on a pretext, and sexually assaults her. As she pleads with him to leave, he blackmails her into giving up physical resistance, and the scene ends. On the pretext of illness, Cécile remains locked in her chambers, refusing all visitors. A concerned Madame de Volanges asks Merteuil to speak to Cécile; Cécile confides in Merteuil, naively assuming that she has Cécile's best interests at heart. Merteuil advises Cécile to welcome Valmont's advances; she says young women should take advantage of all the lovers they can acquire in a society so repressive and contemptuous of women. The result is a "student-teacher" relationship; by day, Cécile is courted by Danceny, and each night she receives a sexual "lesson" from Valmont. Merteuil begins an affair with Danceny.

After a night in Valmont's bed, Cécile miscarries his child. Meanwhile, Valmont has won Tourvel's heart, but at a cost: the lifelong bachelor playboy falls in love. In a fit of jealousy, Merteuil mocks Valmont and refuses to honor her end of their agreement unless Valmont breaks up with Tourvel. Valmont abruptly dismisses Tourvel with a terse excuse: "It's beyond my control." Overwhelmed with grief and shame, Tourvel retreats to a monastery where her health deteriorates rapidly.

Despite the breakup, Merteuil still refuses to honor the agreement and even declares "war". She informs Danceny that Valmont has been sleeping with Cécile. Danceny challenges Valmont to a duel, ending with the latter voluntarily running into Danceny's sword. With his dying breath, Valmont asks Danceny to communicate to Tourvel his true feelings for her; he also warns Danceny about Meurteuil and gives him his collection of intimate letters from her as proof of the veracity of his warnings. Valmont tells Danceny to circulate them after he has read them.

After hearing Valmont's message from Danceny, Tourvel dies. Merteuil goes to the opera but she is booed by her former friends and sycophants, implying that all of Paris have learned the full range of Merteuil's schemes and depredations due to Danceny's circulation of the letters. She flees in disgrace. In the last shot we see her removing her makeup, alone.

Cast

  • Glenn Close as Marquise Isabelle de Merteuil
  • John Malkovich as Vicomte Sébastien de Valmont
  • Michelle Pfeiffer as Madame Marie de Tourvel
  • Uma Thurman as Cécile de Volanges
  • Swoosie Kurtz as Madame de Volanges, mother of Cécile and cousin to Merteuil
  • Keanu Reeves as Le Chevalier Raphael Danceny, suitor to Cécile
  • Mildred Natwick as Madame de Rosemonde, Valmont's aunt
  • Peter Capaldi as Azolan, Valmont's valet
  • Valerie Gogan as Julie, Madame de Tourvel's chambermaid
  • Laura Benson as Émilie, a courtesan
  • Joe Sheridan as Georges, Madame de Tourvel's footman
  • Joanna Pavlis as Adèle, Madame de Rosemonde's maid
  • Harry Jones as Monsieur Armand
  • François Montagut as Belleroche, Merteuil's lover

Production

Dangerous Liaisons was the first English-language film adaptation of Laclos's novel. The screenplay was based on Christopher Hampton's Olivier Award-winning and Tony Award-nominated theatrical adaptation for the Royal Shakespeare Company,[4] directed by Howard Davies and featuring Lindsay Duncan, Alan Rickman and Juliet Stevenson.

The film was shot entirely on location in the Île-de-France region of northern France, and featured historical buildings such as the Château de Vincennes in Val-de-Marne, the Château de Champs-sur-Marne, the Château de Guermantes in Seine-et-Marne, the Château du Saussay in Essonne, and the Théâtre Montansier in Versailles.[5]

Liaisons was the final film appearance of Academy Award and Tony Award-nominated actress Mildred Natwick.[6] Drew Barrymore auditioned for the role of Cécile, and Sarah Jessica Parker turned it down before it was offered to Thurman.[6] Annette Bening went through several auditions for the role of the courtesan Émilie, but in the end the role went to Laura Benson.[7] Bening would go on to play the role of the Marquise de Merteuil in Miloš Forman's adaptation of Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Valmont, a year later.

During production Malkovich had an affair with Pfeiffer. His six-year marriage to actress Glenne Headly ended shortly thereafter.[8][9][10]

Thurman later revealed that she stripped for this film because she thought it was the right choice at the time despite her immense nervousness, but she hated how "voyeuristic" the final cut of the scene was and resolved not to go naked in a movie again.[11]

Soundtrack

The score of Dangerous Liaisons was written by the British film music composer George Fenton. The soundtrack also includes works by a number of baroque and classical composers, reflecting the story's 18th-Century-French setting; pieces by Antonio Vivaldi, Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frideric Handel and Christoph Willibald Gluck feature prominently, although no French composers are included.[12]

TrackSong titleComposer
1Dangerous Liaisons Main Title/"Dressing"George Fenton
2"Madame De Tourvel"George Fenton
3"The Challenge"George Fenton
4"O Malheureuse Iphigénie!", from Iphigénie en TaurideChristoph Willibald Gluck
5"Going Hunting" – "Allegro" from Organ Concerto No. 13, "The Cuckoo and the Nightingale"George Frideric Handel, arr.George Fenton
6"Valmont's First Move"/"The Staircase"George Fenton
7"Beneath The Surface"George Fenton
8"The Set Up"George Fenton
9"The Key"George Fenton
10"Her Eyes Are Closing"George Fenton
11"Ombra mai fu", from SerseGeorge Frideric Handel
12"Tourvel's Flight"George Fenton
13"Success"George Fenton
14"Emilie"George Fenton
15"Beyond My Control"George Fenton
16"A Final Request"George Fenton
17"Ombra Mai Fu" reprise/"The Mirror"George Frideric Handel/George Fenton
18Dangerous Liaisons End CreditsGeorge Fenton
19"Allegro" from Concerto in a Minor For Four Harpsichords, BWV 1065Johann Sebastian Bach

Reception

Critical response

Dangerous Liaisons holds a score of 94% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 31 reviews.[13] On Metacritic it has a score of 74 based on 17 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[14] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade B+ on scale of A to F.[15]

Pauline Kael in The New Yorker described it as "heaven – alive in a way that movies rarely are."[14] Hal Hinson in The Washington Post wrote that the film's "wit and immediacy is extraordinarily rare in a period film. Instead of making the action seem far off, the filmmakers put the audience in the room with their characters."[16] Roger Ebert called it "an absorbing and seductive movie, but not compelling."[17] Variety considered it an "incisive study of sex as an arena for manipulative power games."[18] Vincent Canby in The New York Times hailed it as a "kind of lethal drawing-room comedy."[19]

The Time Out reviewer wrote of Christopher Hampton's screenplay that "one of the film's enormous strengths is scriptwriter Christopher Hampton's decision to go back to the novel, and save only the best from his play".[20] James Acheson and Stuart Craig were also praised for their work, with Sheila Benson of the Los Angeles Times stating that "the film's details of costuming (by The Last Emperor's James Acheson) and production design (by Stuart Craig of Gandhi and The Mission) are ravishing".[21] All three would go on to win Academy Awards for their work on this film.

Glenn Close received considerable praise for her performance; she was lauded by The New York Times for her "richness and comic delicacy,"[19] while Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote that, once she "finally lets loose and gives way to complete animal despair, Close is horrifying."[14] Roger Ebert thought the two lead roles were "played to perfection by Close and Malkovich... their arch dialogues together turn into exhausting conversational games, tennis matches of the soul."[17]

Michelle Pfeiffer was widely acclaimed for her portrayal, despite playing, in the opinion of The Washington Post, "the least obvious and the most difficult" role. "Nothing is harder to play than virtue, and Pfeiffer is smart enough not to try. Instead, she embodies it."[16] The New York Times called her performance a "happy surprise."[19] Roger Ebert, considering the trajectory of her career, wrote that "in a year that has seen her in varied assignments such as Married to the Mob and Tequila Sunrise, the movie is more evidence of her versatility. She is good when she is innocent and superb when she is guilty."[17] Pfeiffer would later win a British Academy Film Award for her performance.

The casting of John Malkovich proved to be a controversial decision that divided critics. The New York Times, while admitting there was the "shock of seeing him in powdered wigs", concluded that he was "unexpectedly fine. The intelligence and strength of the actor shape the audience's response to him".[19] The Washington Post was similarly impressed with Malkovich's performance: "There's a sublime perversity in Frears' casting, especially that of Malkovich... [he] brings a fascinating dimension to his character that would be missing with a more conventionally handsome leading man."[16] Variety was less impressed, stating that while the "sly actor conveys the character's snaky, premeditated Don Juanism... he lacks the devilish charm and seductiveness one senses Valmont would need to carry off all his conquests".[18]

Uma Thurman gained recognition from critics and audiences;[22][23] film critic Roger Ebert found her to be "well cast" in her "tricky" key role.[24]

Accolades

Award Category Nominee(s) Result
Academy Awards[25] Best Picture Norma Heyman and Hank Moonjean Nominated
Best Actress Glenn Close Nominated
Best Supporting Actress Michelle Pfeiffer Nominated
Best Screenplay – Based on Material from Another Medium Christopher Hampton Won
Best Art Direction Stuart Craig and Gérard James Won
Best Costume Design James Acheson Won
Best Original Score George Fenton Nominated
American Society of Cinematographers Awards[26] Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in Theatrical Releases Philippe Rousselot Nominated
ASECAN Awards Best Foreign Film Stephen Frears Won
Association of Polish Filmmakers Critics Awards Best Foreign Film Won
Bodil Awards Best Non-European Film Won
Boston Society of Film Critics Awards[27] Best Director Won
British Academy Film Awards[28] Best Direction Nominated
Best Actress in a Leading Role Glenn Close Nominated
Best Actress in a Supporting Role Michelle Pfeiffer Won
Best Adapted Screenplay Christopher Hampton Won
Best Cinematography Philippe Rousselot Nominated
Best Costume Design James Acheson Nominated
Best Editing Mick Audsley Nominated
Best Make Up Artist Jean-Luc Russier Nominated
Best Original Film Score George Fenton Nominated
Best Production Design Stuart Craig Nominated
British Society of Cinematographers[29] Best Cinematography in a Theatrical Feature Film Philippe Rousselot Nominated
César Awards[30] Best Foreign Film Stephen Frears Won
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards[31] Best Actress Glenn Close Nominated
Best Supporting Actress Michelle Pfeiffer Nominated
David di Donatello Awards Best Foreign Actor John Malkovich Nominated
Fotogramas de Plata Best Foreign Film Stephen Frears Won
Goldene Kamera Best International Actress Glenn Close Won
Guild of German Art House Cinemas Awards Best Foreign Film (Gold Award) Stephen Frears Won
Joseph Plateau Awards Best Foreign Film Won
London Critics Circle Film Awards Screenwriter of the Year Christopher Hampton Won
Nastro d'Argento Best Foreign Director Stephen Frears Nominated
National Board of Review Awards[32] Top Ten Films 2nd Place
National Society of Film Critics Awards[33] Best Supporting Actress Michelle Pfeiffer 3rd Place
Best Cinematography Philippe Rousselot 3rd Place
Sant Jordi Awards Best Foreign Film Stephen Frears Won
Best Foreign Film (Audience Award) Won
Best Foreign Actor John Malkovich (also for Death of a Salesman and The Glass Menagerie) Won
SESC Film Festival Best Foreign Film Stephen Frears Won
Turkish Film Critics Association Awards Best Foreign Film 9th Place
Writers Guild of America Awards[34] Best Screenplay – Based on Material from Another Medium Christopher Hampton Won

Almost 25 years after he played Valmont, John Malkovich directed a French-language version of Hampton's play in Paris, which ran at the Théâtre de l'Atelier.[35][36] In December 2012, the production was brought to Lansburgh Theatre by the Shakespeare Theatre Company for a limited run in Washington, D.C.[37]

In 1989, the film Valmont was released starring Colin Firth, Annette Bening and Meg Tilly.

In 1999, the film Cruel Intentions set the same story in present-day America, starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe and Reese Witherspoon.

In 2012, a Chinese version was released, starring Jang Dong-gun, Zhang Ziyi and Cecilia Cheung. It is loosely based on the novel itself and is set in 1930s Shanghai.

In 2018, the TV series The Great Seducer was released as a modern-day adaptation set in Korea starring Joy (singer), Moon Ga-young, Kim Min-jae (actor, born 1996) and Woo Do-hwan.

Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders parodied Dangerous Liaisons on their sketch show French & Saunders, which then inspired their 1999 comedy series Let Them Eat Cake.

In 2022, the series Dangerous Liaisons premiered on premium television provider Starz. According to writer Harriet Warner, the series is loosely inspired by the novel and explores the marquise's life before the events of the play.[38]

References

  1. ↑ "Stephen Frears". theauteurs.com. Archived from the original on November 16, 2009. Retrieved November 9, 2009.
  2. ↑ "The 61st Academy Awards (1989) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Archived from the original on July 6, 2011. Retrieved July 31, 2011.
  3. ↑ "Dangerous Liaisons (1988) - Awards". imdb.com. Archived from the original on April 2, 2018. Retrieved November 8, 2009.
  4. ↑ "Olivier Winners 1986". The Official London Theatre Guide. Archived from the original on January 11, 2012. Retrieved November 8, 2009.
  5. ↑ "Dangerous Liaisons (1988) – Filming locations". imdb.com. Archived from the original on April 27, 2015. Retrieved November 8, 2009.
  6. 1 2 "Dangerous Liaisons (1988) – Trivia". imdb.com. Archived from the original on November 2, 2016. Retrieved November 8, 2009.
  7. ↑ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: BFI (November 10, 2017). BFI Screen Talk: Annette Bening BFI London Film Festival 2017. YouTube.com. Retrieved May 27, 2018.
  8. ↑ "Being John Malkovich". The Age. April 26, 2003. Archived from the original on October 16, 2015. Retrieved July 11, 2015.
  9. ↑ "Right for the part". The Daily Telegraph. June 1, 2003. Archived from the original on February 12, 2018. Retrieved July 11, 2015.
  10. ↑ Akbar, Arifa (January 8, 2011). "John Malkovich: 'I don't need to be liked'". The Independent. Archived from the original on May 7, 2015. Retrieved May 12, 2015.
  11. ↑ "Uma Thurman will never go nude". femalefirst.co.uk. Archived from the original on April 18, 2023. Retrieved February 13, 2022.
  12. ↑ "Dangerous Liaisons (1988) – Soundtracks". imdb.com. Archived from the original on November 17, 2016. Retrieved November 8, 2009.
  13. ↑ "Dangerous Liaisons Movie Reviews, Pictures". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Archived from the original on October 6, 2008. Retrieved June 14, 2022.
  14. 1 2 3 "Dangerous Liaisons reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on February 27, 2010. Retrieved November 8, 2009.
  15. ↑ "DANGEROUS LIAISONS (1989) B+". CinemaScore. Archived from the original on December 20, 2018. Retrieved July 7, 2019.
  16. 1 2 3 Hinson, Hal (January 13, 1989). "Dangerous Liaisons". washingtonpost.com. Archived from the original on August 1, 2017. Retrieved August 26, 2017.
  17. 1 2 3 Ebert, Roger (January 13, 1989). "Dangerous Liaisons". rogerebert.suntimes.com. Archived from the original on December 29, 2020. Retrieved July 7, 2019.
  18. 1 2 "Dangerous Liaisons Review". variety.com. January 1, 1988. Archived from the original on July 7, 2019. Retrieved November 8, 2009.
  19. 1 2 3 4 Canby, Vincent (December 21, 1988). "Passion in the Ancien Régime". The New York Times. Archived from the original on October 19, 2013. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
  20. ↑ "Dangerous Liaisons". Time Out London. Archived from the original on April 8, 2010. Retrieved November 8, 2009.
  21. ↑ Sheila Benson (December 21, 1988). "MOVIE REVIEWS : Dangerous Games for Power and Fame : 18th-Century Love Games Produce 'Dangerous Liaisons'". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on July 7, 2019. Retrieved July 7, 2019.
  22. ↑ "Dangerous Liaisons (1988)". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on February 25, 2017. Retrieved April 29, 2017.
  23. ↑ Blau, Eleanor (December 30, 1998). "New Face: Uma Thurman; Prospects in 'Liaisons' Were Awesome at First". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 29, 2020. Retrieved April 27, 2020.
  24. ↑ "Dangerous Liaisons". RogerEbert.com. January 13, 1989. Archived from the original on December 29, 2020. Retrieved April 29, 2017.
  25. ↑ "The 61st Academy Awards (1989) Nominees and Winners". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on October 6, 2014. Retrieved October 27, 2011.
  26. ↑ "The ASC Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography". Archived from the original on August 2, 2011.
  27. ↑ "BSFC Winners: 1980s". Boston Society of Film Critics. July 27, 2018. Retrieved July 5, 2021.
  28. ↑ "BAFTA Awards: Film in 1990". BAFTA. 1990. Retrieved September 16, 2016.
  29. ↑ "Best Cinematography in Feature Film" (PDF). Retrieved June 3, 2021.
  30. ↑ "The 1990 Caesars Ceremony". César Awards. Retrieved July 10, 2021.
  31. ↑ "Chicago Film Critics Awards – 1988–97". Chicago Film Critics Association. Archived from the original on April 22, 2016. Retrieved July 21, 2015.
  32. ↑ "1988 Award Winners". National Board of Review. Retrieved July 5, 2021.
  33. ↑ "Past Awards". National Society of Film Critics. December 19, 2009. Retrieved July 5, 2021.
  34. ↑ "Awards Winners". wga.org. Writers Guild of America. Archived from the original on December 5, 2012. Retrieved June 6, 2010.
  35. ↑ "Les Liaisons Dangereuses" (in French). Théâtre de l'Atelier. Archived from the original on November 29, 2012. Retrieved November 12, 2012.
  36. ↑ Trueman, Matt (February 3, 2012). "John Malkovich directs Dangerous Liaisons on stage". The Guardian. Archived from the original on October 3, 2016. Retrieved November 12, 2012.
  37. ↑ Jones, Kenneth (November 6, 2012). "John Malkovich's French-Language Staging of Les Liaisons Dangereuses Will Dawn in DC in December". Playbill. Archived from the original on January 31, 2013. Retrieved November 12, 2012.
  38. ↑ Rantala, Hanna (November 3, 2022). "New 'Dangerous Liasions' TV series 'a prelude, origin story', makers say". Reuters. Retrieved November 28, 2022.
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