Dangerous Liaisons (2003)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Dangerous romances |
| Original title | Les liaisons dangereuses |
| Country of production |
Canada France Great Britain |
| original language | French |
| Publishing year | 2003 |
| length | 183 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Josée Dayan |
| script | Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt |
| production | Jean-Luc Azoulay , Stephen Margolis |
| music | Angelo Badalamenti |
| camera | Caroline Champetier |
| cut | Fred Béraud-Dufour et al. a. |
| occupation | |
|
Catherine Deneuve : Marquise de Merteuil | |
Dangerous Liaisons is a French multi-part television film directed by Josée Dayan from 2003 . The plot of the French letter novel Les Liaisons dangereuses by Choderlos de Laclos , which was carried over to the 1960s, serves as the plot .
The film director Josée Dayan first came into contact with the epistolary novel by Choderlos de Laclos at the age of about 21. She is also familiar with the film adaptations of the novel by Roger Vadim , Stephen Frears and Miloš Forman . The actual idea to shoot a new film version of the Liaisons came from Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt , a screenwriter with whom Dayan worked several times.
Content deviations from the novel
Compared to the original Laclos, which consists of a series of letters, Dayan's film is centered around Isabelle de Merteuil and Valmont. In Paris in the 1960s, the former lovers meet regularly in a secret salon, which is a connecting room between their two apartments, and spin intrigues as to how they can best offend each other. Both have made a pact that forbids them from ever having a relationship with one another again. They continuously make bets on their seductive qualities. When Merteuil notices that Valmont has fallen in love with his youngest victim, Madame de Tourvel, she increases the stake: as soon as he has conquered the stubborn, extremely virtuous woman, she will give herself to him for a night ...
Choice of performers
Dayan chose Catherine Deneuve to play the Marquise de Merteuil, one of the two main characters, because she saw similarities in the character of the novel and the personality of the actress. According to Dayan, both exude complexity, ambiguity and depth. The portrayal of the marquise as a contradicting personality, whose moral tendencies and fragility become visible, was planned as an alternative to Merteuil, who was played as a completely evil character in Glenn Close's Frears film . Rupert Everett was supposed to be the "dark" counterpart to the fair-skinned blonde Catherine Deneuve; Dayan considered him a “very complete and eerie Valmont” because of “his elegance, […] his predatory side and, finally, his aptitude for despair”. Thanks to the casting director Dominique Besnehard , Dayan met Nastassja Kinski and Leelee Sobieski in Paris , who were supposed to play Mme. De Tourvel and Cécile Volanges. The former should be romantic and believable that it is possible to go crazy out of disappointed love and ultimately kill yourself. The latter had virtue, but also youthful naivete, even embodying a certain perversity.
The plot moves to the 1960s
Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt made a conscious decision to move the plot to the 1960s:
- “Even if the text was written in the 18th century, it is neither a temporal nor a historical novel. Laclos has written a story for the ages, the story of two heroes, Madame de Merteuil and Valmont, who want to master their lives by controlling the uncontrollable, that is, feelings, sexuality, relationships with one another. Impossible task, because you cannot live without letting go. [...] I envisioned transferring the characters to the 1960s, a time of growth, the dolce vita that preceded sexual liberation. "
On the one hand, Schmitt wants to show that the topics Laclos dealt with in the 18th century are still relevant. On the other hand, he intends to create something new after the four existing film adaptations. Deneuve adds that it is “difficult to approach the liaisons . You have already been embodied, and very well. If I had been suggested to shoot it when it was made, the 18th century, I would not have done it. "
Thus, this film adaptation of the novel deviates more from Laclos' original than the other film adaptations. In contrast to the classic and cold form of Frears' film, Dayan strives for an extremely romantic and baroque representation of the plot, which is transposed into a time of pleasure and carefree.
Reviews
- Cinema magazine : "The material is a classic, the film is not."