Release CalendarTop 250 MoviesMost Popular MoviesBrowse Movies by GenreTop Box OfficeShowtimes & TicketsMovie NewsIndia Movie Spotlight
    What's on TV & StreamingTop 250 TV ShowsMost Popular TV ShowsBrowse TV Shows by GenreTV News
    What to WatchLatest TrailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsABFFPride MonthOutfest OutfrontsSTARmeter AwardsAwards CentralFestival CentralAll Events
    Born TodayMost Popular CelebsMost Popular CelebsCelebrity News
    Help CenterContributor ZonePolls
For Industry Professionals
  • All
  • Titles
  • TV Episodes
  • Celebs
  • Companies
  • Keywords
  • Advanced Search
Watchlist
Sign In
Sign In
New Customer? Create account
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
IMDbPro

Dangerous Liaisons

  • 1988
  • R
  • 1h 59m
IMDb RATING
7.6/10
73K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
2,551
71
Dangerous Liaisons (1988)
Watch Official Trailer
Play trailer1:33
1 Video
74 Photos
DramaRomance

A scheming widow and her manipulative ex-lover make a bet regarding the corruption of a recently married woman.A scheming widow and her manipulative ex-lover make a bet regarding the corruption of a recently married woman.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
    • Choderlos de Laclos
  • Stars
    • Glenn Close
    • John Malkovich
    • Michelle Pfeiffer
  • See production, box office & company info
  • IMDb RATING
    7.6/10
    73K
    YOUR RATING
    POPULARITY
    2,551
    71
    • Director
      • Stephen Frears
    • Writers
      • Christopher Hampton
      • Choderlos de Laclos
    • Stars
      • Glenn Close
      • John Malkovich
      • Michelle Pfeiffer
    • 175User reviews
    • 58Critic reviews
    • 74Metascore
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Won 3 Oscars
      • 21 wins & 21 nominations total

    Videos1

    Official Trailer
    Trailer 1:33
    Watch Official Trailer

    Photos74

    Michelle Pfeiffer, Glenn Close, and John Malkovich in Dangerous Liaisons (1988)
    Peter Capaldi in Dangerous Liaisons (1988)
    Keanu Reeves and Uma Thurman in Dangerous Liaisons (1988)
    Michelle Pfeiffer and John Malkovich in Dangerous Liaisons (1988)
    Michelle Pfeiffer and John Malkovich in Dangerous Liaisons (1988)
    Michelle Pfeiffer and John Malkovich in Dangerous Liaisons (1988)
    Uma Thurman and Glenn Close in Dangerous Liaisons (1988)
    Glenn Close and John Malkovich in Dangerous Liaisons (1988)
    Glenn Close in Dangerous Liaisons (1988)
    Glenn Close, John Malkovich, and Swoosie Kurtz in Dangerous Liaisons (1988)
    Swoosie Kurtz in Dangerous Liaisons (1988)
    Glenn Close in Dangerous Liaisons (1988)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Glenn Close
    Glenn Close
    • Marquise de Merteuil
    John Malkovich
    John Malkovich
    • Vicomte de Valmont
    Michelle Pfeiffer
    Michelle Pfeiffer
    • Madame de Tourvel
    Swoosie Kurtz
    Swoosie Kurtz
    • Madame de Volanges
    Keanu Reeves
    Keanu Reeves
    • Chevalier Danceny
    Mildred Natwick
    Mildred Natwick
    • Madame de Rosemonde
    Uma Thurman
    Uma Thurman
    • Cécile de Volanges
    Peter Capaldi
    Peter Capaldi
    • Azolan
    Joe Sheridan
    Joe Sheridan
    • Georges
    Valerie Gogan
    • Julie
    Laura Benson
    Laura Benson
    • Emilie
    Joanna Pavlis
    • Adèle
    Nicholas Hawtrey
    • Major-domo
    Paulo Abel Do Nascimento
    • Castrato
    François Lalande
    • Curé
    François Montagut
    François Montagut
    • Belleroche
    Harry Jones
    • Armand
    Christian Erickson
    • Bailiff
    • Director
      • Stephen Frears
    • Writers
      • Christopher Hampton
      • Choderlos de Laclos
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    More like this

    Fatal Attraction
    6.9
    Fatal Attraction
    The Age of Innocence
    7.2
    The Age of Innocence
    The Witches of Eastwick
    6.5
    The Witches of Eastwick
    A Room with a View
    7.2
    A Room with a View
    Tootsie
    7.4
    Tootsie
    Valmont
    7.0
    Valmont
    Dead Man Walking
    7.5
    Dead Man Walking
    The Crying Game
    7.2
    The Crying Game
    A Fish Called Wanda
    7.5
    A Fish Called Wanda
    The Piano
    7.5
    The Piano
    Shakespeare in Love
    7.1
    Shakespeare in Love
    Dangerous Liaisons
    4.0
    Dangerous Liaisons

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Michelle Pfeiffer was offered the role of the Marquise de Merteuil in Valmont (1989), but she chose to play Mme. de Tourvel in this film instead.
    • Goofs
      When Madame de Tourvel is about to surrender to Valmont, a tear comes out of her right eye; in the next shot, her eye is still dry.
    • Quotes

      Marquise de Merteuil: When I came out into society, I was fifteen. I already knew that the role I was condemned to, namely to keep quiet and do what I was told, gave me the perfect opportunity to listen and observe. Not to what people told me, which naturally was of no interest, but to whatever it was they were trying to hide. I practiced detachment. I learned how to look cheerful while, under the table, I stuck a fork into the back of my hand. I became a virtuoso of deceit. It wasn't pleasure I was after, it was knowledge. I consulted the strictest moralists to learn how to appear, philosophers to find out what to think, and novelists to see what I could get away with. And in the end, I distilled everything to one wonderfully simple principle: win or die.

    • Connections
      Featured in Siskel & Ebert: Beaches/We Think the World of You/Dangerous Liaisons/The January Man/36 Fillette (1989)
    • Soundtracks
      La Cetra Op. 9, Concerto No. 9
      Composed by Antonio Vivaldi

    User reviews175

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    A lavish and superbly cruel film that easily engages with a strong story, great characters and strong performances
    The Marquise Isabelle de Merteuil is a harsh and cold woman who views other women as her rivals as clearly as she holds them publicly close as friends. Victomte Sebastien de Valmont is equally out for the destruction of women but does so by seducing and destroying them. Merteuil turns to Valmont to seduce the chaste Cecile de Volanges, thus destroying her marriage but Valmont cannot help and feel that it is all too easy and instead wagers sex with Merteuil against him being able to seduce the notoriously moral Marie de Tourvel.

    While children flock to the infinitely inferior Cruel Intentions, the viewer of more discerning taste will always stick with this classy, rich and enjoyable version of Dangerous Liaisons. The plot can be summarised simply but has several strong threads running together to create an involving game of seduction and cruelty. The say the film is nasty and cruel is to perhaps not stress highly enough how enjoyable it is for being so; it is done with such a taste for it that it makes it engaging while also being repulsive in the depths the games go to. It develops very satisfyingly and I easily found myself drawn into it. It is to the credit of Hampton's script that I found the characters both horrible but yet also engaging – unlike Cruel Intentions where I just hated their vacuous selfishness and couldn't barely bring myself to care about them enough to even dislike them. No, with DL the characters are much stronger and much more appealing while simultaneously managing to be cruel and repulsive.

    The cast rise to the material and I'm hard pressed to think of a similarly starry cast where all involved turn in such rich performances. Close is maybe not the most obvious of roles but she is all the better for it, turning in one of the most deliciously scheming and cruel characters I can recall seeing. With the excesses it is to her credit that she is so subtle and restrained for the majority. Malkovich has more fun with a showier character and makes it look easy where really it is challenging to play such an anti-hero and keep the audience onside while also pushing them away. Although these two make up the majority of the film, the smaller roles are also very well filled. Pfeiffer is brilliant; Thurman gets the mix of innocence and sexuality just right and Reeves is, well, not rubbish. I refrain from giving any credit to Kurtz simply because I think she lost whatever she was due by appearing in the same role in the MTV remake. Frears' direction is great and he makes good use of close-ups and other reoccurring techniques; he is well supported by his costume and set designers who combine to produce a tangible sense of time and place that is befitting the lavish feel of the whole film.

    Overall this is a fine film that is driven by so many factors that it is hard to pin down just one. The script is well written and produces an engaging and tasty plot for adults to get into. The characters are both engaging and repulsive and are well delivered by a cast that give roundly strong performances. All this comes together to produce a fantastically cruel film that just shows how poor Cruel Intentions was and what an insult to the intelligence it is.
    helpful•16
    8
    • bob the moo
    • Feb 13, 2006

    Top picks

    Sign in to rate and Watchlist for personalized recommendations
    Sign in

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • February 24, 1989 (United States)
    • Countries of origin
      • United States
      • United Kingdom
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Gefährliche Liebschaften
    • Filming locations
      • Château de Champs-sur-Marne, 31 rue de Paris, Champs-sur-Marne, Seine-et-Marne, France(Madame de Rosemonde's palace: interiors and park, Merteuil's interiors, staircase, Hall of mirrors)
    • Production companies
      • Lorimar Film Entertainment
      • NFH Productions
      • Warner Bros.
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $14,000,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $34,670,720
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $84,451
      • Dec 26, 1988
    • Gross worldwide
      • $34,670,720
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 59 minutes
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

    Related news

    Contribute to this page

    Suggest an edit or add missing content
    Dangerous Liaisons (1988)
    Top Gap
    What was the official certification given to Dangerous Liaisons (1988) in Japan?
    Answer
    • See more gaps
    • Learn more about contributing
    Edit page

    More to explore

    Recently viewed

    Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
    Get the IMDb App
    Sign in for more accessSign in for more access
    • Get the IMDb App
    • Help
    • Site Index
    • IMDbPro
    • Box Office Mojo
    • IMDb Developer
    • Press Room
    • Advertising
    • Jobs
    • Conditions of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • Your Ads Privacy Choices
    IMDb, an Amazon company

    © 1990-2023 by IMDb.com, Inc.