Dangerous Liaisons
How to downgrade a classic into a shallow piece of nonsense.
The original source for this film lies in the 18th-century novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos. It is a story written in letter form, a correspondence between the Vicomte de Valmont and the Marquise de Merteuil, alleged former lovers who exploit other relationships through their cruel games of seduction. At the time it was written, it was purported to be an attack on the depravity of the aristocracy of the ancien régime. Scandalous in its day it has, however, been found to be an ever-interesting work that still appeals not only to students of French literature but also to practitioners in many other twentieth-century art forms. There have been many novelisations, plays, operas and ballet versions, television and radio adaptations and it has even been read on BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour! To this list must now be added a film version by Rachel Suissa set in the Biarritz of today. However, you have been warned, so don't expect too much from this feeble incarnation.
The original manuscript was adapted for the theatre, most notably in Christopher Hampton’s 1985 version. It became an opera by the American composer Conrad Susa in 1994, by the Belgian composer Piet Swerts in 1996 and by the Italian composer Luca Francesconi in 2011. It was choreographed for a ballet by David Nixon to music by Vivaldi in Berlin in 1990 and 1996; the Alberta Ballet performed a version in 2008; the Czech National Theatre Ballet staged it to music by Schubert and Peteris Vasks; and Queensland Ballet had a production with music by Saint-Saens in 2019. There have been several films based on the book including two by Roger Vadim in 1959 and 1976, one by Stephen Frears in 1988, and another a year later by Milos Forman under the title of Valmont. It appeared as Cruel Intentions by Roger Kumble in 1999, as Untold Scandal by the South Korean director E. J-yong in 2003, and as Dangerous Liaisons by the Chinese director Hur Jin-ho in 2012.
What is it about the original novel that, after 240 years, it still has a lasting appeal to audiences of the twentieth century? Society has always enjoyed gossip probably from the year dot.com, so that Laclos hit a sensitive nerve when he published his epistolary account of love, seduction, corruption and revenge. That means the piece is tailor-made for our current Facebook and Instagram generation. Here we have Tristan (Simon Rerolle) and Vanessa (Ella Pellegrini), today’s equivalents of the Vicomte and the Marquise, with Tristan betting his ex-lover Vanessa that he can make the visiting Célène (Paola Locatelli) forget her fiancé Pierre (Aymeric Fougeron) and submit to him instead. Célène is innocence personified and a virgin to boot. When Tristan makes a date with Célène, she also brings along her very gauche, convent-trained cousin Charlotte (Heloise Janjaud), much to Tristan's annoyance. When he makes a pass at Célène, she leaves in disgust, so then Tristan decides out of revenge to bed Charlotte and get back at Célène.
All the loose ends are not so much tied up but left frayed at the edges, thereby making an impossibly futile denouement that is both too lively and lightweight to make any sense. And so, another famous text bites the dust because this is arguably the worst version of the Laclos classic. In the meantime, the cast tries its best but really it’s a lost cause from beginning to end.
Original title: Les Liaisons Dangereuses.
MICHAEL DARVELL
Cast: Paola Locatelli, Simon Rerolle, Ella Pellegrini, Heloise Janjaud, Jin Xuan Mao, Oscar Lesage, Camille Leon-Fucien, Aymeric Fougeron.
Dir Rachel Suissa, Pro Eleonore Dailly and Edouard de Lachomette, Screenplay Rachel Suissa and Slimane-Baptiste Berhoun, based on the novel by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, Ph Giovanni Fiore Coltelacci, Pro Des Samantha Godoswski, Ed Romain Rioult, Music Clement Dumoulin, Costumes Emmanuelle Youchnovski, Sound Lucas Vauthier.
Autopilot Entertainment-Netflix.
109 mins. 2022. France. Rel: 8 July 2022. Available on Netflix. Cert. 15.