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Dangerous Liaisons (1988)

tomatometer

86

Average Rating: 6.7/10
Critic Reviews: 7
Fresh: 6 | Rotten: 1

No consensus yet.

audience

81

liked it
Average Rating: 3.7/5
User Ratings: 44,440

My Rating

Movie Info

Adapted for stage and screen several times over the past century, French author Francois Choderlos de Laclos' 1782 novel Les Liasons Dangeureuses was the basis for this Academy Award-winning Stephen Frears film. The plot is motivated by a cruel wager between the beautiful but debauched Marquise de Merteuil (Glenn Close) and her misogynistic former lover, the Vicomte de Valmont (John Malkovitch). The Marquise challenges Valmont to seduce the virginal Cecile de Volanges (Uma Thurman) before the

R,

Drama

Christopher Hampton

May 1, 2001

Warner Home Video

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Cast

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All Critics (28) | Top Critics (8) | Fresh (25) | Rotten (2) | DVD (5)

This incisive study of sex as an arena for manipulative power games takes too long to catch fire and suffers from a deficient central performance.

February 8, 2008 Full Review Source: Variety | Comment (1)
Variety
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The creepy plot still holds a certain fascination.

February 8, 2008 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader
Chicago Reader
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A sombre, manipulative affair in which the dà (C)cor is never allowed to usurp our interest.

January 26, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out
Time Out
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Witty, entertaining, if occasionally overripe.

May 20, 2003 Full Review Source: New York Times
New York Times
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Director Stephen Frears accelerates entertainingly through Christopher Hampton's wig-and-powder sado-comedy about sexual mind games in 18th-century France.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Washington Post
Washington Post
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Tantalizingly wicked -- watching it makes the color rise to your cheeks.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Washington Post
Washington Post
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Emotional cruelty through sexual manipulation is the rule of the game of this smooth transfer of Christopher Hampton's witty play, with an all-American cast, headed by Glenn Close and Michelle Pfeiffer.

April 30, 2007 Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com
EmanuelLevy.Com

Splendid... full of deliciously devious characters

December 3, 2004
Kalamazoo Gazette

For a tragedy that carries a strong emotional kick, it's wickedly fun.

February 5, 2004
Capital Times (Madison, WI)

Close, Malkovich e Pfeiffer aproveitam ao máximo seus fascinantes personagens e os diálogos afiados do roteiro de Hampton, mas o filme é um pouco mais frio do que deveria.

February 3, 2004
Cinema em Cena

Wicked and well-appointed, this is a deliriously sinful costume a drama.

August 16, 2003
Nick's Flick Picks

Its vernacular style allows the film to connect easily with present-day morals, sexual politics, and thirst for power.

July 30, 2003 Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide
TV Guide's Movie Guide

Stephen Frears' direction is superb -- the design and lighting evoke simultaneous worlds of privilege and squalor, and while the nature of day-to-day life in 18th century France becomes readily apparent, it never becomes distracting.

November 7, 2002 Full Review Source: Netflix
Netflix

Perhaps the juciest adaptation of the story that one could hope for.

July 25, 2002
Matinee Magazine

Audience Reviews for Dangerous Liaisons

Dangerous Liaisons oozes sex and excess, the depths of human wickedness, lush, seduction, all the good bits basically. It is directed beautifully by Stephen Frears who doesn't stick to a cliched look at this particular period in France but gives the story an element of believability at the same time as bringing a brilliant bit of theatre to life. No one else really does this as well as Frears, I can see anyone else getting away with a film like The Queen for example, his technique of bringing theatre to the screen is great as it is unique. The performances are among the collective cast's best, if I read the script yesterday and the film had never been made I certainly wouldn't think Glenn Close and John Malkovich but that is why I'm not a casting director, I don't think I've enjoyed either actor as much as I did in this film.
April 4, 2013
SirPant

Super Reviewer

I love France in this time.... pretty dresses. I found it very intriguing and seductive. Proves once more Glenn Close is astonishing and that Keanu Reeves actually has had a good role in his life. WOW.
September 23, 2009
MeetMeinMontauk
Jennifer D

Super Reviewer

    1. Vicomte De Valmont: But it is always the best swimmers who drown.
    – Submitted by Raj G (14 months ago)
    1. Vicomte De Valmont: You are a genuinely wicked woman.
    – Submitted by Raj G (15 months ago)
    1. Marquise De Merteuil: When it comes to marriage, one man is as good as the next.
    – Submitted by Raj G (15 months ago)
    1. Marquise De Merteuil: War.
    – Submitted by Trish G (2 years ago)

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Foreign Titles

  • Gefährliche Liebschaften (DE)
  • Dangerous Liaisons (1988) (UK)
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