Amazon.com Essentials:
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 get 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
Amazon.com Essentials:
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 get 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
