Plot Details: This opinion reveals everything about the movie's plot.

This movie had potential. I mean, it had a chance! The casting is good, the story is a tried and true one, it's gorgeous to look at, and the director (Milos Forman) helmed Amadeus.

So what happened?

It had the misfortune to come out after Dangerous Liasons . Add to that the fact that the script was a bit wobbly, they changed the ending and you have a recipe for a flop. Which is what happened to this picture.

It's the same story as Liasons. A wicked, seductive woman (Bening as a very understated Merteuil) gets her friend, the vicomte de Valmont (Firth) to ruin her old lover's (Jones) fiancee (played with great skill and innocence by Fairuza Balk). Valmont shrugs, figures why not, and goes after the young woman, while planning on the way the seduction of a prim young woman, Madame de Tourvel, (Meg Tilly).

This Merteuil comes across as a vapid, bored darling of society; Valmont is the King of the One Night Stand, giving his conquests hardly a second thought; Tourvel is more cheerful than Michelle Pfieffer's portrayal (and she doesn't die in this one), but it was the young innocent Cecile (Balk) that caught my attention in this one. Watch for her reactions at Valmont's seduction, that wide eyed panic, that makes the film much more interesting.

And her intended husband, played so superbly by Jeffrey Jones, is fun to watch as he casually dumps a very naked Merteuil and informs her that their relationship is over. This sets all the scheming in motion.

There is one scene in which you get the icy manipulator that Merteuil is, when Valmont comes to claim his reward. I won't describe it here, but it is the only one that comes across with any passion or fire on either of the character's parts.

The production values in the sets and costumes are simply extravagant in this one. At times the decoration is so heavy that it verges on overload.

Overall, it is a bloodless, passionless, boring retelling of Choderlos de Laclos novel, and not worth a second watching. It went into art-house release, then vanished into video.

Warnings: nudity, sex (quite a bit), some profane language, rape (borderline, no details, but it's not consentual at all). Not for the young.

Two stars for the acting, four for the costumes, and one star for the butchering of the book. Overall, maybe three stars on a good day.


Recommended: No

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: Good for a Rainy Day
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older