Dangerous Liasons (Stephen Frears 1988): USA

Reviewed by Jacqueline Kaden. Viewed at the Santa Barbara Film Festival.

(as a note, these two characters from this film happen to be wearing the only two expressions I made while watching this film: slight amusement and sheer boredom.)

Dangerous Liaisons is one of Stephan Frears’s lesser known films. Frears has directed (much more notably) The Queen, High Fidelity, and upcoming in 2012 Lay the Favorite.

Dangerous Liaisons is best viewed in a way that puts simply what the movie takes hours to convey:

• Play with fire and you’re going to get burned.

Yes, this movie takes such a simple concept and bludgeons the viewer with hours of  Vicomte Sébastien de Valmont (John Malkovitch doing his best at not using a French accent in a movie set in 18^th century France) seducing women and being an all around “player.” This is all to gain the honor of a night shared with the dangerously devious Marquise Isabelle de Merteuil (Glenn Close). The progression of this movie is best viewed in a list:

• Close’s character wants to corrupt her best friend’s daughter
• Close’s character makes Malkovitch’s character do it
• He one ups her with a more chaste vistim
• She accepts
• He accepts
• He sleeps with said women
• He falls in love with the chaste woman
• Close’s character ruins his ability to feel emotion
• Malkovitch’s character hats her for it and ends up dying for the chaste woman

To say this movie is decent is just about all there is to say about it. There is little that Frears could have done to make his actors produce better work, because the script was written very predictably. There is no wondering what will happen next: the plot is placed out in front of you from the beginning. Listed below are some of the redeeming qualities of this film:

• Costumes
• Setting and locales
• Lighting
• Costumes again because, come on, who doesn’t like the corseted and  bustled ladies  of 18^th century France

All in all, this film leaves nothing to the imagination. If you’re looking for a film in the in “infidelity” section, you’re better off with this movie’s modern-set doppelganger, Cruel Intentions.