Dangerous Liaisons

Director: Stephen Frears Stephen Frears

Overview

Adapted for stage and screen several times over the past century, French author Francois Choderlos de Laclos' 1782 novel Les Liasons Dangeureuses was the basis for this Academy Award-winning Stephen Frears film. The plot is motivated by a cruel wager between the beautiful but debauched Marquise de Merteuil (Glenn Close) and her misogynistic former lover, the Vicomte 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.

Product Details

Release Date:	03/28/2017
UPC:	0888574474713
Original Release:	1988
Rating:	R
Source:	Warner Archives
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	2:00:00
Sales rank:	22,636

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Glenn Close	Marquise de Merteuil
John Malkovich	Vicomte de Valmont
Michelle Pfeiffer	Madame de Tourvel
Uma Thurman	Cecile de Volanges
Keanu Reeves	Chevalier Danceny
Swoosie Kurtz	Madame de Volanges
Mildred Natwick	Madame de Rosemonde
Peter Capaldi	Azolan
Joe Sheridan	Georges
Valerie Cogan	Julie
Laura Benson	Emilie
François Montagut	Belleroche
Harry Jones	Armand
George Fenton	Composer

Technical Credits

Christopher Hampton

Stephen Frears	Director
Christopher Hampton	Screenwriter,Producer
Norma Heyman	Producer
Hank Moonjean	Producer
Christopher Ackland	Sound Effects

Editorial Reviews

In the 1980s, director Stephen Frears made such diverse films as My Beautiful Laundrette, Walter and Prick Up Your Ears, but it's safe to say that Dangerous Liaisons was his most ambitious achievement. Frears was working with his first large Hollywood budget; the results were both a critical and box-office success. Liaisons is based on an 18th-century novel by way of a Christopher Hampton play, and at least four movies have been made from the original story. In 1959, Roger Vadim produced Les Liaisons Dangereuses; a year after Frears' version, director Milos Forman made the uneven Valmont; and 1999 saw the a teenage update, Cruel Intentions. Of the four, Frears' is arguably the best; his deliberate, restrained direction is reminiscent of Stanley Kubrick's work in Barry Lyndon. His version isn't quite as much fun as Vadim's, but thanks the stellar performances of Glenn Close and John Malkovich, the movie has a fresh coat of pernicious complexity to it. Frears went on to capture more fiendish elements of human relationships with his next film, The Grifters.