Dangerous Liaisons

Dangerous Liaisons (1988) is set in Paris before the Revolution. Merteuil and Valmont are former lovers and now partners, betting on seduction. She wants him to take a young girl's virginity; his own target is a married woman known for her fidelity. The cost of the wager arrives from a direction neither of them calculated. The source is Christopher Hampton's 1985 play, itself drawn from Pierre Choderlos de Laclos's novel of 1782. The strangest thing about it is that a rival was being shot at the same time. Miloš Forman was preparing his own adaptation of the same novel, Valmont, with Colin Firth and Annette Bening, released in 1989. Two major productions of one book opened a year apart. Stephen Frears directed. Glenn Close plays Merteuil, John Malkovich plays Valmont, Michelle Pfeiffer the married woman. Uma Thurman and Keanu Reeves are also in it, both newly known at the time. It was shot in real châteaux in northern France. It cost 14 million dollars and made 34.7 million. At the 61st Academy Awards it received seven nominations and won three: Adapted Screenplay, Costume Design and Art Direction. It runs 119 minutes. Good for: period drama, sharp dialogue, and Glenn Close. Less good for: nobody in it is likeable, which is the point. Sexual manipulation and the exploitation of a young girl sit at the centre of the plot. Malkovich's American accent and modern bearing feel wrong for the period to some viewers.