Dangerous Liaisons (1988)

A scheming widow and her manipulative ex-lover make a bet regarding the corruption of a recently married woman.

Director:

Stephen Frears

Writers:

Christopher Hampton (play), Choderlos de Laclos (novel)

Stars:

Glenn Close, John Malkovich, Michelle Pfeiffer

Won 3 Oscars. Another 16 wins & 20 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Glenn Close	...	Marquise de Merteuil
John Malkovich	...	Vicomte de Valmont
Michelle Pfeiffer	...	Madame de Tourvel
Swoosie Kurtz	...	Madame de Volanges
Keanu Reeves	...	Chevalier Danceny
Mildred Natwick	...	Madame de Rosemonde
Uma Thurman	...	Cécile de Volanges
Peter Capaldi	...	Azolan
Joe Sheridan	...	Georges
Valerie Gogan	...	Julie
Laura Benson	...	Emilie
Joanna Pavlis	...	Adèle
Nicholas Hawtrey	...	Major-domo
Paulo Abel Do Nascimento	...	Castrato
François Lalande	...	Curé

Storyline

In 18th century France, the Marquise de Merteuil and the Vicomte de Valmont play a dangerous game of seduction. Valmont is someone who measures success by the number of his conquests and Merteuil challenges him to seduce the soon to be married Cecile de Volanges and provide proof in writing of his success. His reward for doing so will be to spend the night with Merteuil. He has little difficulty seducing Cecile but what he really wants is to seduce Madame de Tourvel. When Merteuil learns that he has actually fallen in love with her, she refuses to let him claim his reward for seducing Cecile. Death soon follows.

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Plot Keywords:

seduction | emotional abuse | france | corruption | catholic | 

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Taglines:

Lust. Seduction. Revenge. The Game As You've Never Seen It Played Before.

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

24 February 1989 (USA)

Also Known As:

Les liaisons dangereuses

Filming Locations:

Hôtel de Sully, Paris 4, Paris, France

Box Office

Budget:

$14,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$34,700,000 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Lorimar Film Entertainment, NFH Productions, Warner Bros.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

119 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

When the novel "Les Liaisons dangereuses" by Choderlos de Laclos was first published in 1782, it was considered so scandalous that when Queen Marie-Antoinette commissioned a copy for her personal library she had to have it bound in a blank cover so that no-one would recognise the author's name or title

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Goofs

In Madame de Rosemonde's garden, Valmont sits behind Madame de Tourvel and asks "Why are you so angry with me?" The camera then cuts to a close-up of Tourvel's face, and Valmont is sitting much closer behind her.

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Quotes

Vicomte de Valmont: Surely I've explained to you before how much I enjoy watching the battle between love and virtue.
Marquise de Merteuil: What concerns me is that you seem to enjoy watching it much more than you used to enjoy winning it.
Vicomte de Valmont: All in good time.
Marquise de Merteuil: The century is drawing to its close.

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Connections

Referenced in What I Like About You: Dangerous Liaisons (2005)

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Soundtracks

O Malheureuse Iphigénie !
(aria from the opera "Iphigénie en Tauride")
Composed by Christoph Willibald Gluck
Performed by Catherine Bott sporano

User Reviews

Elegant

This movie is elegant. The performances are magnificent. John Malkovich is totally believable as the sector that destroys the life of countless naive women. Glenn Close is amazing as one of the greatest "bitches" of the story of cinema. Michelle Pfeiffer and Keanu Reeves gave their best performances ever and Uma Thurman is amazing with a tremendous mix of innocence and sexuality. The script and the direction really made an amazing job giving an environment of sickness and degradation. The makeup and the beautiful costumes only aggregate the force that the story needed to be told. An amazing movie you really wish to enter in that snake's nest. Highly recommended.