| Dangerous Liaisons | | Cast : | Glenn Close, John Malkovich, Michelle Pfeiffer | | Director : | Stephen Frears | | Studio : | Warner Studios | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Dolby, Widescreen | | Released Date : | December 21, 1988 | | DVD Released Date : | May 01, 2001 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), French (Dubbed), French (Subtitled), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), English (Original Language), French (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | R (Restricted) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | August 05, 2005 | | Summary | Love for Malkovich | Content
 | I won't rehash the whole plot, we all know the story. I'd give this version of Dangerous Liaisons more stars if could. I only have one thing to say. I'm tired of all those people who say that John Malkovich wasn't handsome enough to play Valmont. Justin Chang from California wrote that he "didn't completely buy Malkovich as the charming lady-killer" and that casting him in the role was a "a small but serious flaw that undermines the whole film". Bulls**t!
How could anyone watch Malkovich's stellar performance and think of nothing except looks. Hollywood is so full of "good-looking" actors and actresses who can't act their way out of a paper bag. In modern times we often value conventional beauty over all other aspects of a person's character. A lot of these Hollywood hunks wish they could act as well as Mr. Malkovich. Get over it, people, no one will ever play Valmont better! |
| Rating | | | Date | April 14, 2005 | | Summary | Cruel Intentions... What? | Content
| I am going to be real with you all. I actually just saw Dangerous Liaisons for the first time last night, and to tell you the truth I loved it. I of course saw Cruel Intentions when it had first came out, and thought it was just the greatest thing due to my infatuation with Ryan Phillippe lol. However, after seeing Dangerous Liaisons, I've realized that Cruel Intentions shouldn't have ever been made. I mean honestly why would this guy even think that making a remake as... watered down as Cruel Intentions would even come as close to being as good as the original? Don't get me wrong, Ryan is still hot, but hell no this version is better. I recommend anyone who is like me, and hasn't seen it yet to get this dvd. If you even thought of liking Cruel Intentions, you'll love this.
Just.. one little issue on the other hand. John Malkovich is not the least bit sexy, and therefore I was not completely convinced that he was such the ladies man as he was portrayed to be. I understand "it's just a movie" and all, but honetly. I don't know maybe it wasn't his appearance that made him so wanted. Maybe what he lacked for in looks, he made up for in... other areas :wink: haha All right I'm just going to stop right here. |
| Rating | | | Date | April 11, 2005 | | Summary | The vanity and the happiness are incompatible! | Content
| This bitter statement comes from Glenn Close in the final dialogue with John Malkovich and somehow resume scrupulously the final consequences of defy and challenge such sensible and perdurable feeling as love is.
Alfred Hitchcock sated in a famous interview with Francois Truffaut that the three fundamentals factors for a good movie were to his mind: 1)A good script, 2)A good script and 3) A good script. And if also you add the presence of this glorious cast you the obtained result will be by far, still major than the sum of its parts.
This mature drama is a cold bet between two outlaw human beings, far descendents in spirit, evidently of Don Juan. One of them, the female will establish the rules of the game and the other part will have to make the agreement. In this sinister everything will be allowed and the goal will justify the way to reach it.
The seduction has never had such sinister face, understood as the unspoken road to blend two different wills in the final act. In this case, the seduction is just the frame and not the landscape. You can argue all what your imagination, good manners, touch of class, and promises of never ending love the feminine soul can accept. And all this huge effort is done just to satisfy a genuine and perverse fascination: the vanity .
But as you know the life owns much more imagination than us and in this macabre labyrinth the love may be spying on behind our unconscious wishes and twisting our original purposes.
John Malkovich simply remarkable with the role of his life until the date, draws an admirable portrait . Glenn Close is superb too as the perverse, analytical and cold mind. Pfeiffer and Thurman are unequal playing the role of the ambitioned objects of desire.
The dialogues are eloquent; the artistic decoration, design customer, photography and edition are first rate. This film owned all the demanded conditions to win all the possible acclaims and prizes all over the world. If the result was not the expected you will have to find other kind of explanations far distant and certainly not so pleasant.
But the time has always been the best judge to emphasize the supreme qualities of the real masterpieces, and in this case this picture will not be able the exception. You can realize how its cult status has prevailed and even improved through the years and definitively this constitutes a good signal. Based on the famous Ninon De Lenclos ' s novel until that date had never received such a deep treatment.
Stephen Frears' supreme masterpiece!
|
| Rating | | | Date | April 05, 2005 | | Summary | Love as war | Content
| Here is France near the time of the Revolution, the zenith and nadir of the Age of Reason, when all things, but especially love, have taken on the air of cold calculation and cynicism. Based on Laclos's novel of love as war, the movie, if viewers can allow themselves to view it with the eyes and spirit of its participants, can be wicked fun. The plot, especially at first, is fairly complicated, but soon the pieces fall together, and the maneuvering and scheming wend their way toward their bitter end. And it is bitter.
But it's hard to shake off what we have come to think of love after the Romantics: this is pure calculation for personal gains only, a game as ruthless as any in a high stakes poker tournament. The principals are superb in their battle garb and tactics, but it left me feeling icy all over. Perhaps as it should, but it's good to note that even here true love has its victory and its ultimate revenge, both where they rightfully belong. An excellent production. Worth a watch. |
| Rating | | | Date | January 07, 2005 | | Summary | One of Close's finest performances | Content
| OK, so Dangerous Liaisons is a little dated. The story is over 200 years old, and the film is over 15 years old. So, you might be weary of buying it for its age. Don't be!
The story, which everyone knows by now, centers around two bored aristocrats, the Marquise de Merteuil (Close) and the Vicomte de Valmont (John Malkovich) who take pleasure in meddling in people's love lives and corrupting them. The point of the story is that the Vicomte finally falls in love with one of his conquests, Madame de Tourvel (Michelle Pfeiffer), and Close, who is in love with him, struggles to keep him from being with Madame de Tourvel.
An overdone love story? Not at all. The complexity of the plot, the power of the acting, and the beauty of the set and costumes provide for a rich, captivating film. Originally I thought Malkovich was a miscast -- I thought he contrived his role too much -- but eventually I changed my mind, and appreciate his dynamic more now. Close plays a fantastic Marquise. Her talent shines throughout the entire film. She truly makes the film excellent. The fact that she did not win the Oscar does not matter -- this role was made for her, and she for the role. There should have been two Oscars awarded for Best Actress that year. Michelle Pfeiffer and Uma Thurman interpret their roles well, and Swoosie Kurtz plays a fitting Madame de Volanges. I was amused by the fact that Kurtz also did 'Cruel Intentions,' 10 years later.
The plot of the film was well done, well interpreted. I was mildly disappointed that the film skips over the Marquise's experience with Prévan, a corrupting mirror of Valmont whom she conquers and then brags about quite explicitly in a letter. That could have been included. The costumes and set are flawless -- the three Oscars that the film won for these categories were well deserved.
All in all, a deserving film. Worth buying and watching twice, at least. |
|
|
|
|
