Dangerous Liaisons

Dangerous Liaisons (film)

Rated R, 1988

Stars Glenn Close as Marquise De Merteuil, John Malkovich as Vicomte De Valmont, Michelle Pfeiffer as Madame De Tourvel, Swoosie Kurtz as Madame De Volanges, Mildred Natwick as Madame De Rosemonde, Keanu Reeves as Chevalier Danceny, Uma Thurman as Cecile De Volanges

Produced by Lorimar Film Entertainment, NFH Limited, Warner Bros.

French author Francois Choderlos de Laclos' 1782 novel Les Liasons Dangeureuses has been adapted for stage and screen several times over the past century; 1988's Dangerous Liasons was the most successful and most opulent of these adaptations. The plot is motivated by a cruel wager between the beautiful but debauched Marquise de Merteuil (Glenn Close) and her misogynistic former lover, the Victome de Valmont (John Malkovitch). The Marquise challenges Valmont to seduce the virginal Cecile de Volanges (Uma Thurman) before the girl can be wed. Valmont offers a more difficult counter-challenge: He bets the Marquise that he will be able to bed the very moral and very married Madame de Tourvel (Michelle Pfeiffer). In the course of carrying out his plan, Valmont is stricken with a sudden case of honor and remorse, while the Marquise becomes all the more vicious. As a means of purging his soul before entering the Next World, Valmont, mortally wounded in a duel, leaves behind evidence of the Marquise's treachery, destroying her prestige in society. Dangerous Liaisons is so absorbing and entertaining that one can forgive the script's occasional glaring anachronisms. -- Hal Erickson (All-Media Guide)

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