Dangerous Liaisons - Valmont/Merteuil - The One I Can't Deny

► fandom: Dangerous Liaisons (1988)
► pairing: Vicomte de Valmont/Marquise de Merteuil
► song: • Ocean Jet - Cold
Frears and Hampton's version of Dangerous Liaisons always seemed miraculously beautiful to me. Miraculously, because all the characters are evidently bad persons (yes, including Tourvel) and any kind of beauty is merged with vociferous cruelty.
And yet - such an exquisite use of all the luxury that XVIII century can give to cinema; such a brilliant perfomance that however much you hate the character they don't annoy you; such a carefully chosen focus.
The plot has changed immensely with Merteuil and Valmont moved from their twenties to late thirties - this shift gives such an improved atmosphere, so much more meaning than the original story of fools hurrying towards their own destruction with adolescent ardor. Also there's really no need for smallpox to punish Merteuil, if anything, this illness diminishes the dramatic bitterness of the finale, while in the film the balance is perfect - she craved to play the game of manipulation, but she hadn't realised how many ways there were to lose.
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