Thoughts on Dangerous Liaisons

 

via Giphy/Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures

"It was unprecedented. ... It had a kind of charm that I don't think I've ever experienced before. Once she'd surrendered, she behaved with perfect candor, total mutual delirium, which, for the first time ever with me, outlasted the pleasure itself."
(Valmont (John Malkovich), even if he's not fully aware, loves the married Tourvel (Michelle Pfeiffer). Merteuil (Glenn Close) is now the odd woman out and she is aware. Valmont's monologue ends.)
"... It's extraordinary, isn't it?"
"Is it? It sounds to me perfectly commonplace."

There's a high supply of humiliation in Dangerous Liaisons, directed by Stephen Frears and written by Christopher Hampton, who adapted his play based on Choderlos de Laclos' novel. It couldn't have been inflicted by -- or ultimately inflicted upon -- a worthier woman. Readers and audience members practically wish for characters like Merteuil. We simply must know what she's going to say or do next. We're rewarded with incisive dialogue and audaciously lowdown behavior. My alternative choice for a representative gif was a delighted Merteuil having finished reading a plea from upset, unwitting rival Cécile (Uma Thurman).

If all Liaisons had to offer was nonstop sauciness, I wouldn't like it as much. Don't get me wrong. I loved the sauciness. I loved watching Merteuil and Valmont run rings around the likes of Cécile, Danceny (Keanu Reeves) and most especially Cécile's mother, Madame de Volanges (Swoosie Kurtz). Having successfully seduced Cécile, Valmont reveals her mom was once a slut, "more noted for her enthusiasm than her ability, if I remember rightly." Enthusiastic indeed, since de Volanges was once involved with three men including Valmont. Since then, she approaches him as if he could eat her. Cécile responds accordingly, by laughing.

Still, no meal ever consisted of only sauce. As entertaining as the Cécile caper is, Liasons is most compelling when dealing with the Merteuil-Valmont-Tourvel triangle. While Close is clearly having a blast as a monster and Malkovich plays a heel pulled from the periphery of love to the real deal, Pfeiffer faces the challenge of not being overshadowed by either of them. She ultimately succeeded, although it took time. It wasn't until the "Ombra mai fu" scene that Tourvel felt like more than Valmont's intended conquest. The fact that she's unaware of conquering him, that she's made to suffer by a man not worthy of her ... it's heartbreaking.

"I'm dying because I wouldn't believe you."

This is where I obligatorily mention that Malkovich and Pfeiffer had an affair while making Liaisons. If I'm not mistaken, she was divorcing or had just divorced Peter Horton. Malkovich was still married to Glenne Headly, who will get the spotlight in another movie I'm watching in September, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. By the end of the month, I hope to have seen 1988's most acclaimed and remembered screen performances by actresses. I could have started this assignment with The Accused, the movie that won Jodie Foster her first Academy Award. I've actually never seen The Accused. I've now seen Dangerous Liaisons three times.

I figured that by leading with Liaisons, I couldn't lose. If nothing else, I could share previously-reached conclusions. I could keep gushing about the brilliant dialogue. Amid all the lying going on, the movie is astonishingly honest. You can learn so much about the human condition from these characters. I could have just used Merteuil's "virtuoso of deceit" monologue for representative dialogue. It's as skilled and as candid as Glenn Close's famous "soul was on her face" final scene, as brazen as the primping that introduces Merteuil and as formidable as her final, war-declaring confrontation with Valmont. Who needs sex?

"And in the end, I distilled everything to one wonderfully simple principle -- win or die."

*drinks tea*

Recommended.

Thoughts:

-- "I think there's something degrading about having a husband for a rival. It's humiliating if you fail and commonplace if you succeed."

-- Box Office: Grossing about $34.7 million on a $14 million budget, this opened in limited release and peaked at No. 4.

-- Critic's Corner, the movie: "Tantalizingly wicked," Hal Hinson wrote in The Washington Post. "The picture exerts an insinuating hold. You feel as if it is being whispered in your ear." Vincent Canby, The New York Times, singled out the "witty, entertaining, if occasionally overripe decadence." "Not, as it turns out, a lot of fun, but a considerable achievement of style," David Denby wrote in New York. "Good but incompletely realized," according to Variety. "If there is anything lacking in the movie, it may be a certain gusto," Roger Ebert wrote.

-- Critic's Corner, Close: "Nothing (she) has done on the screen before approaches the richness and comic delicacy of her work as the Marquise," Vincent Canby wrote. Hinson: "Spinsterish and a little stern -- somehow it's hard to imagine her enjoying a moment of sexual release." Sheila Benson, Los Angeles Times: "So overbearingly majestic that she very nearly swamps the picture. ... Humor has always seemed the element left out of Close's makeup." Denby: "Frears, in his only serious mistake, bores in on her too much."

-- Critic's Corner, Pfeiffer: "She is good when she is innocent and superb when she is guilty," wrote Roger Ebert, who said Liaisons offered more evidence of her versatility. Michelle was smart enough not to play virtue, Hinson wrote, instead opting to embody it. Denby: "When Pfeiffer takes the screen, the movie is at its most moving."

-- Critic's Corner, Malkovich: "Unexpectedly fine," according to Canby. "His presence underlines just how small a role physical beauty plays in seduction," according to Hinson. "With Malkovich, everything turns on artistry and experience." Variety wasn't impressed, feeling he lacked devilish charm and seductiveness. "Never charming," Denby wrote.

-- "Like most intellectuals, he's intensely stupid."

-- Awards Watch: Close lost both the Academy Award and BAFTA. Pfeiffer, an Oscar also-ran, did score the BAFTA. To my surprise, Dangerous Liaisons received no Golden Globe nominations. I guess it didn't open in time to qualify. Hampton's screenplay, which won the movie's second and last BAFTA (out of 10 nominations), also won an Oscar. The other Oscar wins (out of seven nominations) were for the art direction and costume design and the other nominations included Best Picture and for George Fenton's score. The other BAFTA nominations included ones for Fenton and for Frears' direction.

-- Hey, It's ...!: Peter Capaldi. Also, Mildred Natwick, who I am sorry to just now be mentioning.

-- Fanservice Junction: Take your pick. There's Laura Benson as Émilie the courtesan, Valerie Gogan as Julie the maid and as Cécile, Uma the just legal.

-- "Because when one woman strikes at the heart of another, she seldom misses. And the wound is invariably fatal."

-- As the story goes, the Broadway production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses opted not to extend its run with Glenn Close as Merteuil. It closed just before the opening of Fatal Attraction. A similar situation played out with Dangerous Liaisons. Alan Rickman was denied playing Valmont on screen, but made a name for himself in 1988 with Die Hard.

-- I've never seen Cruel Intentions. 

-- After the schemes were exposed, who received the most pity sex? Bastide, Mr. Tourvel or Danceny? 

-- "Let him be. He had good cause. I don't believe that's something anyone has ever been able to say about me."

-- Next: The Accused. On deck: Working Girl.