Appreciate your review—esp for the comparisons to the novel, which I’ve not read. I wonder what you think of Miloš Forman’s 1989 adaptation, Valmont? Having watched Dangerous Liaisons first, it took me a while to appreciate Forman’s film, but after a couple of viewings, I quite liked it. Annette Bening was deadly as Merteuil and Fabia Drake, as Rosamonde, was delightful.
"Dangerous Liaisons" is much closer to the novel, but "Valmont" does a better job of capturing the characters' lighter, nonchalant, mischievous side, and in some ways the chemistry between Bening and Firth feels closer to the novel than the one between Close and Malkovich. I would have loved to see the cast of "Valmont" in a script that was more faithful to the book (which I highly recommend!).
Ugh, the need to reinvent classic villains in order to give them some shallow Freudian excuse for their actions has to be one of the great literary pathologies of our era. After the sheer ridiculousness of making Cruella de Vil into a dog lover, I had hopes that the fad would finally break, but it seems we're still stuck. I'll stick with Glenn Close, or failing that, the (surprisingly faithful) teen adaptation Cruel Intentions, which at least understood why the story works.
Believe it or not, it's the SECOND adaptation to do that. The first (the 2022 Starz series "Dangerous Liaisons," meant as a prequel) gave backgrounds of hardship and trauma to both Valmont and Merteuil. I discuss it at the end of my 2023 Liaisons essay, at the end https://www.thebulwark.com/p/love-and-libertinism-the-endless-fascination-of-dangerous-liaisons (though the essay it mostly about the novel)
Might the Marquis be off to the Americas for the French and Indian war? Still some 9 years away in 1745 but the French were involved in some military activities in Canada before that even.
Yes, I assume that's what they were going for, though there's also discussion of the war being a fashionable cause in France (which I don't think was ever true of the Seven Year war). There were some very limited French activities in the Americas, yes. But this just seemed such a plot device.
Thank you for the review. I am a big fan of the Stephen Frears’ movie and this adaptation seems less compelling than the Cruel Intentions, which for me was surprisingly enjoyable.
I just started watching “The Seduction” last night. I read the first two paragraphs of your piece, but I’m going to read the rest after I finish the remaining five episodes.
I finally got through it. I liked it less as it went on. I liked it better as a prequel, rather than the reimagining it became as it morphed more and more into the novel’s plot line as it progressed. The actors and sets were fine. I especially loved the furniture. Overall, I’d rate it a “meh”.
I turned off the recent Persuasion with Dakota Johnson after 20 minutes, it was that bad (both in its disrespect for the world in which the novel takes place, and in its Bridgerton-incompetent "period" dialog), and am gonna skip the new Wuthering Heights (not a "love story," kids). This LD might be interesting, at least, though it's weird that contemporary films have such trouble with libertinage and "immoralism." Thanks to Cathy for prepping me!
I'm probably going to write about the Wuthering Heights movie (mostly as a springboard to talk about the novel, which I LOVE - the movie sounds pretty iffy, but I suppose I'll give it a shot?).
My wife is an English teacher and Janeite, and prefers Jeremy Northam as Knightley. I liked Fennell's Emma, OTH, because it doesn't shy away from the characters’ physical desire.
I wonder if the thwarted-love framework of WT is so sturdy (or the bad-boy trope: “He's good bad, but he ain't evil,” according to the Shangri-Las) that readers suppress their responses to the characters’ viciousness. I mean, George's Bataille enthusiastically called it an “evil” book.
I actually don't entirely agree that it's not a love story, as long as we're under no delusion that love = something shiny and romantic. (Heh - the same is true of "Les Liaisons dangereuses," actually!) FWIW, I wrote about Wuthering Heights for the now-defunct Weekly Standard back in 2018.... and I just remembered that the subhead on that piece was "Is Wuthering Heights a Love Story"?:
This got a little too complicated a little too early in the morning for me to fully digest, but I appreciate the effort. And will only say that the late, great Tina Turner will always be for me the woman who came to own her own sexuality. She made a bundle of $$ doing so, and lived out her life as a happily married woman with the husband of her choosing. Sorry if it's kind of off topic, but like I said, it's early morning and this made me think of Tina.
Frankly Cathy, you make me realize how pathetic my education (non-education) is. Your splendid metaphor? of Javert and Valjean "teaming up as crime-fighting buddies" gave me a moments pause and much wry laughter.
In a way, it's not that far-fetched! I found out quite recently when I decided to read up on the history of "Les Miserables" (after watching the film of the musical) that Valjean and Javert are both based on the same character whom Hugo split in two: Eugene Vidocq, a career criminal who eventually went straight, persuaded the police to hire him an investigator by pointing out that no one knows how criminals think better than a reformed criminal, and eventually became the head of a large police force.
Just me being jealous. That is hysterical re Vidocq. French and Russian are both empty pockets in my brain, my non-understanding is willful in the case of the Russians. The patronymics murder me. Can't keep 'em straight. C'est la vie. My only reading from R is a bit of Chekov/Gorky. But MANY pals are nuts about Tolstoy and Bulgakov. Me? Tried M & M twice, gave up. Planning to read M girlhood soon . Enjoyed the dragon fable thing 2 years ago very much.
Appreciate your review—esp for the comparisons to the novel, which I’ve not read. I wonder what you think of Miloš Forman’s 1989 adaptation, Valmont? Having watched Dangerous Liaisons first, it took me a while to appreciate Forman’s film, but after a couple of viewings, I quite liked it. Annette Bening was deadly as Merteuil and Fabia Drake, as Rosamonde, was delightful.
P.S. Colin Firth is a charming rake as Valmont, and easy on the eyes (especially if you’re not fond of Malkovich’s crudity in D.L.)
"Dangerous Liaisons" is much closer to the novel, but "Valmont" does a better job of capturing the characters' lighter, nonchalant, mischievous side, and in some ways the chemistry between Bening and Firth feels closer to the novel than the one between Close and Malkovich. I would have loved to see the cast of "Valmont" in a script that was more faithful to the book (which I highly recommend!).
Ugh, the need to reinvent classic villains in order to give them some shallow Freudian excuse for their actions has to be one of the great literary pathologies of our era. After the sheer ridiculousness of making Cruella de Vil into a dog lover, I had hopes that the fad would finally break, but it seems we're still stuck. I'll stick with Glenn Close, or failing that, the (surprisingly faithful) teen adaptation Cruel Intentions, which at least understood why the story works.
Believe it or not, it's the SECOND adaptation to do that. The first (the 2022 Starz series "Dangerous Liaisons," meant as a prequel) gave backgrounds of hardship and trauma to both Valmont and Merteuil. I discuss it at the end of my 2023 Liaisons essay, at the end https://www.thebulwark.com/p/love-and-libertinism-the-endless-fascination-of-dangerous-liaisons (though the essay it mostly about the novel)
Might the Marquis be off to the Americas for the French and Indian war? Still some 9 years away in 1745 but the French were involved in some military activities in Canada before that even.
Yes, I assume that's what they were going for, though there's also discussion of the war being a fashionable cause in France (which I don't think was ever true of the Seven Year war). There were some very limited French activities in the Americas, yes. But this just seemed such a plot device.
Thank you for the review. I am a big fan of the Stephen Frears’ movie and this adaptation seems less compelling than the Cruel Intentions, which for me was surprisingly enjoyable.
I agree - in some ways Cruel Intentions actually captured the spirit of the book quite well.
I just started watching “The Seduction” last night. I read the first two paragraphs of your piece, but I’m going to read the rest after I finish the remaining five episodes.
Cool! I'm curious to see what your opinion is. Definitely come back and share!
I finally got through it. I liked it less as it went on. I liked it better as a prequel, rather than the reimagining it became as it morphed more and more into the novel’s plot line as it progressed. The actors and sets were fine. I especially loved the furniture. Overall, I’d rate it a “meh”.
I turned off the recent Persuasion with Dakota Johnson after 20 minutes, it was that bad (both in its disrespect for the world in which the novel takes place, and in its Bridgerton-incompetent "period" dialog), and am gonna skip the new Wuthering Heights (not a "love story," kids). This LD might be interesting, at least, though it's weird that contemporary films have such trouble with libertinage and "immoralism." Thanks to Cathy for prepping me!
I'm probably going to write about the Wuthering Heights movie (mostly as a springboard to talk about the novel, which I LOVE - the movie sounds pretty iffy, but I suppose I'll give it a shot?).
I guess I'll go, just to argue about it later.
My wife is an English teacher and Janeite, and prefers Jeremy Northam as Knightley. I liked Fennell's Emma, OTH, because it doesn't shy away from the characters’ physical desire.
I wonder if the thwarted-love framework of WT is so sturdy (or the bad-boy trope: “He's good bad, but he ain't evil,” according to the Shangri-Las) that readers suppress their responses to the characters’ viciousness. I mean, George's Bataille enthusiastically called it an “evil” book.
I actually don't entirely agree that it's not a love story, as long as we're under no delusion that love = something shiny and romantic. (Heh - the same is true of "Les Liaisons dangereuses," actually!) FWIW, I wrote about Wuthering Heights for the now-defunct Weekly Standard back in 2018.... and I just remembered that the subhead on that piece was "Is Wuthering Heights a Love Story"?:
https://web.archive.org/web/20180827115811/http://weeklystandard.com/cathy-young/emily-bronte-at-200-is-wuthering-heights-a-love-story
Thanks for the link! You had me at "Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche."
This got a little too complicated a little too early in the morning for me to fully digest, but I appreciate the effort. And will only say that the late, great Tina Turner will always be for me the woman who came to own her own sexuality. She made a bundle of $$ doing so, and lived out her life as a happily married woman with the husband of her choosing. Sorry if it's kind of off topic, but like I said, it's early morning and this made me think of Tina.
Frankly Cathy, you make me realize how pathetic my education (non-education) is. Your splendid metaphor? of Javert and Valjean "teaming up as crime-fighting buddies" gave me a moments pause and much wry laughter.
In a way, it's not that far-fetched! I found out quite recently when I decided to read up on the history of "Les Miserables" (after watching the film of the musical) that Valjean and Javert are both based on the same character whom Hugo split in two: Eugene Vidocq, a career criminal who eventually went straight, persuaded the police to hire him an investigator by pointing out that no one knows how criminals think better than a reformed criminal, and eventually became the head of a large police force.
Just me being jealous. That is hysterical re Vidocq. French and Russian are both empty pockets in my brain, my non-understanding is willful in the case of the Russians. The patronymics murder me. Can't keep 'em straight. C'est la vie. My only reading from R is a bit of Chekov/Gorky. But MANY pals are nuts about Tolstoy and Bulgakov. Me? Tried M & M twice, gave up. Planning to read M girlhood soon . Enjoyed the dragon fable thing 2 years ago very much.