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Dangerous Liaisons

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Dangerous Liaisons (1988)

December. 21,1988
|
7.6
|
R
| Drama Romance
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In 18th century France, Marquise de Merteuil asks her ex-lover Vicomte de Valmont to seduce the future wife of another ex-lover of hers in return for one last night with her. Yet things don’t go as planned.

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SpuffyWeb
1988/12/21

Sadly Over-hyped

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InformationRap
1988/12/22

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

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Mathilde the Guild
1988/12/23

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

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Sarita Rafferty
1988/12/24

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

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cinemajesty
1988/12/25

Film Review: "Dangerous Liaisons" (1988)Director Stephen Frears handles an "Academy-Award-Winning" adaptive script by Christopher Hampton based on a novel of 1782 by author Pierre Choderlos de Laclos (1741-1803) to utmost of excellence, directing all-up-front actress Glenn Close as Marquise de Merteuil teaming up with actor John Malkovich, given face to scene-stealing Vicomte de Valmont, who together rule a French court of the 18th century "Renaissance"; winning affections of the innocent as they were fruits to be picked from a sacred tree, when supporting cast members surrounding Uma Thurman, Michelle Pfeiffer as unfortunate Madame de Tourvel and Keanu Reeves as all-too inexperienced knight in an climaxing egee-swinging duel, when Merteuil & Valmont keep the upper hand to win high society favours only to confront themselves nevertheless in the end after all that there can only be one to survive for a future at the court.The Warner Bros. distributed picture has nothing lost of his seductive beat-work throughout every scene as director Stephen Frears well-researched conditioning of his ensemble cast, when just getting blocked out at the Oscars in their 61st edition for a "Best Director" nomination over British comedy "A Fish Called Wanda" directing Charles Crichton (1910-1999) as the adaptive script and costume designs win nevertheless for eternalized recognition of a remaining motion picture classic.

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Raymond Crown
1988/12/26

Dangerous Liaisons is a period drama starring Glenn Close, John Malkovich, and Michelle Pfeiffer, based on the novel and play Les liaisons dangereuses (the former by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos and the latter by Christopher Hampton). Set in 18th century France, it follows the Marquise de Merteuil (Close) and the Vicomte de Valmont (Malkovich) as they engage in detrimental games of decadence and private pastimes replete with repulsive pleasure and perversity. With any medium of entertainment, it is always the outré characters that intrigue and even captivate us into wholly engaging in that medium. Dangerous Liaisons is no different but the characters take a more detestable mien. But Christopher Hampton and Stephen Frears (the scriptwriter and director respectively) take on a subtler approach to the film's primary subjects: sex and seduction. Although, in the end, we find that the key themes revolve around ardour and more evidently, betrayal. Close is nearly great as Merteuil but the bona fide performances came from Malkovich and Pfeiffer. Malkovich has a certain perverse charm to him that, although appears slightly unfitting to the majority of the roles he has played in his career, fits well with the character of the Vicomte. The naturality of Pfeiffer's performance is what sets her apart from the rest of the cast. The film won three Academy Awards (Oscars), for Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Costume Design and Best Art Direction, all well deserved wins.The film however lacks a certain punch. Frears is a good director on his own right and the film is languorous but the deficiency of gusto and if I may say so, a level of confidence points out to how it is not as compelling as it may seem. There arises a slightly incidental feeling in us as we indirectly notice the director hesitate to take risks that could have great payoffs (if done right) and instead dismiss himself from anything that may break the seeming perfection of his film. There's something odd about that.All in all, Dangerous Liaisons is an interesting film but not as irresistible as Valmont was to many of his past preys...

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jimbo-53-186511
1988/12/27

Having been wronged by their former partners Marquise Isabelle de Mertueil (Glenn Close) and Vicomte Sebastian De Valmont (John Malkovich) hatch a plan to get even. Mertueil challenges Valmont to bed the soon to be married 17 year old Cecile de Volanges (Uma Thurman). Having determined that this challenge alone will be too easy for him, bed-hopping Valmont also sets about trying to seduce prim and proper Madame de Tourvel (Michelle Pfeiffer) whilst her husband is away. His prize for completing these tasks is Mertueil herself, but is all this as easy as Mertueil and Valmont hope? Cruel Intentions was a loosely based remake of this film which came out 11 years later; I enjoyed Cruel Intentions the first time I watched it and have seen it several times since, but sadly I didn't enjoy Dangerous Liaisons quite as much.I think the problem here is that I didn't find the story quite as involving; it was a bit talky for my liking and if truth be told it was probably a little over-plotted as well. In some ways, I was also a little turned off by the fact that it featured a bunch of rich aristocrats - I just found it all a little bit pretentious which is why I generally don't like period dramas. Dangerous Liaisons just seemed to amble along without ever really involving me in the story. Cruel Intentions told pretty much the same story in just over 90 minutes and one has to wonder why the writers felt the need for this film to run close to the 2 hour mark? The truth is that there just isn't enough material here to warrant that kind of run time.Another problem I had here was that I never really felt any connections to any of the characters; they weren't really fleshed out particularly well and at the end of the day I just felt like I'd spent 2 hours looking at cardboard cut-outs in pretty costumes. I also had a bit of an issue with Keanu Reeves character; he was the music teacher in this and aside from his wooden performance, he added nothing to the film and may as well not have been in it (compare that to how important the music teacher was to the plot in Cruel Intentions).Aside from an obviously miscast Keanu Reeves; the performances were all excellent with particular praise going to Malkovich, Close and Thurman. Thurman was perhaps the biggest revelation and I felt that she accentuated vulnerability and was actually very good.The film doesn't even shine at the end and has a rather formulaic and obvious ending. To me the whole film just felt rather flat and un-exciting. I found the ending to Cruel Intentions to be moving and somewhat surprising.Dangerous Liaisons has far too much polish on it for it to be a truly bad film, but it's also not involving enough for it to be considered a great film. I thought Cruel Intentions was a better film to be honest.

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SnoopyStyle
1988/12/28

In pre-Revolutionary France, the Marquise de Merteuil (Glenn Close) plots revenge against Bastide who aims to wed young virgin Cécile de Volanges (Uma Thurman). Merteuil tries to convince the Vicomte de Valmont (John Malkovich) to seduce Cécile but Valmont is busy seducing the married Madame de Tourvel (Michelle Pfeiffer) famous for her virtue. Merteuil offers a night with her as reward for Cécile's seduction.It is a period piece alive with sexual tension. It is deliciously seductive. It is not old and dusty. Rather it is energetic and modern. The sexual manipulations and deceptive games give a greater edge to any modern romantic melodrama. Close and Malkovich are terrifically corrupt. Pfeiffer is excellent in the less showy virtuous role. Thurman plays the innocent ingénue. The acting is all top notch. The production is first rate directed by Stephen Frears.

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