Amazon.co.uk Review
A sumptuously mounted and photographed celebration of artful wickedness, betrayal and sexual intrigue among depraved 18th-century French aristocrats, Dangerous Liaisons (based on Christopher Hampton's Les Liaisons Dangereuses) is seductively decadent fun. The villainous heroes are the Marquise De Merteuil (Glenn Close) and the Vicomte De Valmont (John Malkovich), who have cultivated their mutual cynicism into a highly developed and exquisitely mannered form of (in-)human expression. Former lovers, they now fancy themselves rather like demigods whose mutual desires have evolved beyond the crudeness of sex or emotion. They ritualistically act out their twisted affections by engaging in elaborate conspiracies to destroy the lives of their less calculating acquaintances, daring each other to ever-more-dastardly acts of manipulation and betrayal. Why? Just because they can; it's their perverted way of getting their kicks in a dead-end, pre-Revolutionary culture. Among their voluptuous and virtuous prey are fair-haired angels played by Michelle Pfeiffer and Uma Thurman, who have never looked more ripe for ravishing. When the Vicomte finds himself beset by bewilderingly genuine emotions for one of his victims, the Marquise considers it the ultimate betrayal and plots her heartless revenge. Dangerous Liaisons is a high-mannered revel for the actors, who also include Swoosie Kurtz, Mildred Natwick, and Keanu Reeves. --Jim Emerson
Customer Reviews:
Breathtaking and amazing period drama........2007-10-07
This film adaptation is possibly one of the best adaptations I have ever seen committed to film. Featuring a standout cast including John Malkovic, Glenn Close, Michelle Pfeiffer, Uma Thurman (in one of her first films)and Keanu Reeves, of those mentioned I would say that John Malkovic and Michelle Pfeiffer gave the best performances. Both are mesmerizing in their respective roles and the rest of the cast are also on form with Glenn Close relishing her part.
I also felt the production design and the costumes were top drawer and the direction from Stephen Frears was first class. He managed to get the feel for the period of the time, 18th Century France, to perfection and brought out some dazzling set pieces and excellent performances from his cast. It won 3 Oscars (Best Screenplay Adaptation, Best Costume Design and Best Art Direction) and it could have so easily have won more. Michelle Pfeiffer won a BAFTA for Best Supporting Actress for her spellbinding performance as Madame de Tourville.
All in all then, this is a first class showpiece of how decent period costume dramas should look and the result is grand indeed. I have seen this film a number of times and it still looks fresh to me. I wonder if the studio will bring out a special edition DVD next year to mark the 20th Anniversary of this film's release. This is a breathtaking and beautiful film that left this reviewer in admiration.
Well Shot Period Piece.......2007-05-16
This movie is so incredibly well done, and all three lead characters are at their peak career performances. It is clever, funny, and tragic all rolled together, and one that you will be thinking about long after the movie is over. Of the three main characters, Michelle Pfeiffer has the least stretching to do as an actor, but her character calls for a demure, soft-spoken individual. John Malkovitch and Glenn Close are both deliciously malicious and carry the film well. Keanu Reeves is better suited for an action film - he appears wooden - but does a decent job, anyway. Lastly, Uma is refreshing and captivating, and plays opposite John Malkovitch without losing her identity. All in all, masterful, and visually and intellectually stimulating to watch. Still to this day it holds its' own in a world where action is the name of the game.
Wonderful characters.......2006-06-14
I am not often very interested in stories taking place in pre-industrial times. I like technology too much, and I find that human interactions without even a telephone are just too limited. But there are exceptions, for instance Dangerous Liaisons, which is just a wonderful story.
It is based on a novel of the same title written and taking place in France before the revolution, in the highly decadent upper class society. The same story was filmed at the same time in another very good movie, Valmont.
Apart from beautiful cinematography and great acting, the story is gripping and has wonderful characters, particularly the two main characters (played by Glenn Close and John Malkovich) who are perhaps the best *nasty* characters in any story ever. They are just really slimy. And yet they they can feel love and regret, which of course are weaknesses in really nasty people, and this leads to their downfall.
Having Michelle Pfeiffer and Uma Thurman as some of their innocent victims does not hurt either. (Warning, if you don't like the prospect of Uma Thurman topless, don't watch this one.)
It was many years since I saw it in the cinema, I was curious if it held up. It did. Warmly recommended.
This film delights all the senses...........2005-09-04
I can't believe someone could only give this film 1-star. Well, I suppose I can - you have to be very sensual to appreciate this to the full extent, and that can't be everyone.
Malkovich is a bit... uber-Malkovich, I suppose, but he's still brilliant and of course, phenomenally sexy. He does the steady derangement of Valmont (from having to juggle maintainance of his reputation and an unexpected real love), superbly. This is especially apparent from the "Beyond my control" scene until the end of the film. Close is also incredible - she should really have got some kind of award. The Marquise is a deep and intense character with a shady past that you see more of in the book, but never once did I think her overplayed. Close's scenes with Malkovich were, for me, steeped in frisson such as I've never before seen created between two actors. In this respect you half watch the film and half get seduced by it. Pfeiffer is excellent, but in some way her performance doesn't stand out for me as much as the others' do. She just plays her part very well. Keanu Reeves and Uma Thurman are good in their pawn roles. Men watching with ladies should derive pleasure from seeing the latter get a splendid pair out later on in the film (shame the Norfolk dude only tuned in for an hour).
Dangerous Liasons.......2005-06-22
In my opinion - a waste of time. I watch for one hour - abouty half way, and just could not take anymore - so took the DVD out, and tried the weekend TV.
How it got all those stars, I don't know. And for Glenn Close and Michelle Pfeiffer to act in it is also inexplicable.
Amazon.co.uk Review
A sumptuously mounted and photographed celebration of artful wickedness, betrayal and sexual intrigue among depraved 18th-century French aristocrats, Dangerous Liaisons (based on Christopher Hampton's Les Liaisons Dangereuses) is seductively decadent fun. The villainous heroes are the Marquise De Merteuil (Glenn Close) and the Vicomte De Valmont (John Malkovich), who have cultivated their mutual cynicism into a highly developed and exquisitely mannered form of (in-)human expression. Former lovers, they now fancy themselves rather like demigods whose mutual desires have evolved beyond the crudeness of sex or emotion. They ritualistically act out their twisted affections by engaging in elaborate conspiracies to destroy the lives of their less calculating acquaintances, daring each other to ever-more-dastardly acts of manipulation and betrayal. Why? Just because they can; it's their perverted way of getting their kicks in a dead-end, pre-Revolutionary culture. Among their voluptuous and virtuous prey are fair-haired angels played by Michelle Pfeiffer and Uma Thurman, who have never looked more ripe for ravishing. When the Vicomte finds himself beset by bewilderingly genuine emotions for one of his victims, the Marquise considers it the ultimate betrayal and plots her heartless revenge. Dangerous Liaisons is a high-mannered revel for the actors, who also include Swoosie Kurtz, Mildred Natwick, and Keanu Reeves. --Jim Emerson
Customer Reviews:
Breathtaking and amazing period drama........2007-10-07
This film adaptation is possibly one of the best adaptations I have ever seen committed to film. Featuring a standout cast including John Malkovic, Glenn Close, Michelle Pfeiffer, Uma Thurman (in one of her first films)and Keanu Reeves, of those mentioned I would say that John Malkovic and Michelle Pfeiffer gave the best performances. Both are mesmerizing in their respective roles and the rest of the cast are also on form with Glenn Close relishing her part.
I also felt the production design and the costumes were top drawer and the direction from Stephen Frears was first class. He managed to get the feel for the period of the time, 18th Century France, to perfection and brought out some dazzling set pieces and excellent performances from his cast. It won 3 Oscars (Best Screenplay Adaptation, Best Costume Design and Best Art Direction) and it could have so easily have won more. Michelle Pfeiffer won a BAFTA for Best Supporting Actress for her spellbinding performance as Madame de Tourville.
All in all then, this is a first class showpiece of how decent period costume dramas should look and the result is grand indeed. I have seen this film a number of times and it still looks fresh to me. I wonder if the studio will bring out a special edition DVD next year to mark the 20th Anniversary of this film's release. This is a breathtaking and beautiful film that left this reviewer in admiration.
Well Shot Period Piece.......2007-05-16
This movie is so incredibly well done, and all three lead characters are at their peak career performances. It is clever, funny, and tragic all rolled together, and one that you will be thinking about long after the movie is over. Of the three main characters, Michelle Pfeiffer has the least stretching to do as an actor, but her character calls for a demure, soft-spoken individual. John Malkovitch and Glenn Close are both deliciously malicious and carry the film well. Keanu Reeves is better suited for an action film - he appears wooden - but does a decent job, anyway. Lastly, Uma is refreshing and captivating, and plays opposite John Malkovitch without losing her identity. All in all, masterful, and visually and intellectually stimulating to watch. Still to this day it holds its' own in a world where action is the name of the game.
Wonderful characters.......2006-06-14
I am not often very interested in stories taking place in pre-industrial times. I like technology too much, and I find that human interactions without even a telephone are just too limited. But there are exceptions, for instance Dangerous Liaisons, which is just a wonderful story.
It is based on a novel of the same title written and taking place in France before the revolution, in the highly decadent upper class society. The same story was filmed at the same time in another very good movie, Valmont.
Apart from beautiful cinematography and great acting, the story is gripping and has wonderful characters, particularly the two main characters (played by Glenn Close and John Malkovich) who are perhaps the best *nasty* characters in any story ever. They are just really slimy. And yet they they can feel love and regret, which of course are weaknesses in really nasty people, and this leads to their downfall.
Having Michelle Pfeiffer and Uma Thurman as some of their innocent victims does not hurt either. (Warning, if you don't like the prospect of Uma Thurman topless, don't watch this one.)
It was many years since I saw it in the cinema, I was curious if it held up. It did. Warmly recommended.
This film delights all the senses...........2005-09-04
I can't believe someone could only give this film 1-star. Well, I suppose I can - you have to be very sensual to appreciate this to the full extent, and that can't be everyone.
Malkovich is a bit... uber-Malkovich, I suppose, but he's still brilliant and of course, phenomenally sexy. He does the steady derangement of Valmont (from having to juggle maintainance of his reputation and an unexpected real love), superbly. This is especially apparent from the "Beyond my control" scene until the end of the film. Close is also incredible - she should really have got some kind of award. The Marquise is a deep and intense character with a shady past that you see more of in the book, but never once did I think her overplayed. Close's scenes with Malkovich were, for me, steeped in frisson such as I've never before seen created between two actors. In this respect you half watch the film and half get seduced by it. Pfeiffer is excellent, but in some way her performance doesn't stand out for me as much as the others' do. She just plays her part very well. Keanu Reeves and Uma Thurman are good in their pawn roles. Men watching with ladies should derive pleasure from seeing the latter get a splendid pair out later on in the film (shame the Norfolk dude only tuned in for an hour).
Dangerous Liasons.......2005-06-22
In my opinion - a waste of time. I watch for one hour - abouty half way, and just could not take anymore - so took the DVD out, and tried the weekend TV.
How it got all those stars, I don't know. And for Glenn Close and Michelle Pfeiffer to act in it is also inexplicable.
UK DVD:
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UK DVD List
UK DVD
![Dangerous Liaisons [1988]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/21HK2004S7L.jpg)
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Les Liaisons Dangereuses (English Translation)
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Amadeus -- Director's Cut 2-Disc Special Edition [1985]
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Valmont [1990]
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The Age Of Innocence [1993]
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Dangerous Liasons [2003] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
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![Dangerous Liaisons [1988] (REGION 1) (NTSC)](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/212V2CTM2FL.jpg)