Of the four Western film adaptations of Laclos' notorious epistolary novel, Les liaisons dangereuses, Valmont is perhaps the least known, and if they do know of it, fans of the 1989 Dangerous Liaisons with Glenn Close and John Malkovich hold a rather low opinion of Valmont. To be sure, this one is definitely the inferior movie in terms of cinematic elegance and fidelity to the source, but it is not entirely fair to compare it to Dangerous Liaisons.
In the first place, for all its creative liberties, Valmont does stay true to the essentials of the novel. Yet unlike the other films, and rather in spite if its title, it chooses to focus on Cécile de Volanges rather than the Vicomte de Valmont and the Marquese de Merteuil as its main character. This Cécile is the only one since the Roger Valdin's black and white Les liaisons dangereuses who actually looks her young age, and certainly the only one who is even a remotely sympathetic character--which was not even the case in the novel, but this twist is definitely welcome. Fairuza Balk does a very convincing job of portraying an innocently naïve young girl, and for the first time one can appreciate the true magnitude of the nightmare inflicted upon her by these ruthless libertines. She had done nothing wrong, yet she was drawn into their relentless scheming and systematically destroyed.
The focus on Cécile, moreover, explains why Mme de Tourvel was not so central to the plot as she was in the novel or in other adaptations: this is Cécile's story, and that fact colors every other character. Thus it is not surprising that the dynamic between Colin Firth and Annette Bening is far softer, subtler, and sexier than that between other pairs who have filled these characters' roles: that was how Cécile, an innocent girl who looked up to the adults in her life, must have seen Valmont and Merteuil. Cécile's general naïveté manifests itself in the under-ripe look and feel of the film: it is beautiful while yet lacking a certain elegant edge.
Perhaps Cécile is depicted a bit too well, for the progression of her seduction is highly disturbing, even distressing, to watch. As well, her ultimate fate is deeply different from that suggested by the novel and by the other adaptations, and arguably more punitive (thanks in no small part to some very well-thought-out casting). This is not my favorite adaptation of that great jewel of eighteenth-century European literature, but it fulfills its mission.
In the first place, for all its creative liberties, Valmont does stay true to the essentials of the novel. Yet unlike the other films, and rather in spite if its title, it chooses to focus on Cécile de Volanges rather than the Vicomte de Valmont and the Marquese de Merteuil as its main character. This Cécile is the only one since the Roger Valdin's black and white Les liaisons dangereuses who actually looks her young age, and certainly the only one who is even a remotely sympathetic character--which was not even the case in the novel, but this twist is definitely welcome. Fairuza Balk does a very convincing job of portraying an innocently naïve young girl, and for the first time one can appreciate the true magnitude of the nightmare inflicted upon her by these ruthless libertines. She had done nothing wrong, yet she was drawn into their relentless scheming and systematically destroyed.
The focus on Cécile, moreover, explains why Mme de Tourvel was not so central to the plot as she was in the novel or in other adaptations: this is Cécile's story, and that fact colors every other character. Thus it is not surprising that the dynamic between Colin Firth and Annette Bening is far softer, subtler, and sexier than that between other pairs who have filled these characters' roles: that was how Cécile, an innocent girl who looked up to the adults in her life, must have seen Valmont and Merteuil. Cécile's general naïveté manifests itself in the under-ripe look and feel of the film: it is beautiful while yet lacking a certain elegant edge.
Perhaps Cécile is depicted a bit too well, for the progression of her seduction is highly disturbing, even distressing, to watch. As well, her ultimate fate is deeply different from that suggested by the novel and by the other adaptations, and arguably more punitive (thanks in no small part to some very well-thought-out casting). This is not my favorite adaptation of that great jewel of eighteenth-century European literature, but it fulfills its mission.