Valmont ***** (1989, Colin Firth, Annette Bening, Meg Tilly, Fairuza Balk, Jeffrey Jones, Henry Thomas, Sian Phillips, Fabia Drake) – Classic Movie Review 3522

Director Milos Forman’s seductive 1989 romantic drama film Valmont stars Colin Firth, Annette Bening, Meg Tilly and Fairuza Balk, along with Sian Phillips, Jeffrey Jones, Henry Thomas, Fabia Drake, Ian MacNeice and Isla Blair. It is based on the 1782 French novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses by Choderlos de Laclos, and adapted for the screen by Jean-Claude Carrière, but with a plot that differs significantly from the novel.

Milos Forman’s beautiful 1989 UK/ French movie version of Choderlos de Laclos’s novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses had the misfortune to come in second of two versions of the story filmed concurrently, after Stephen Frears’s Dangerous Liaisons triumphed in 1988. But, though it was largely shunned by the public of the day, it certainly should not, must not be ignored.

Annette Bening is wonderful as the scheming countess Madame de Merteuil, who takes on her former lover and fellow plotter Valmont (Colin Firth, subtle and intense) in a battle of wits to the death. Her little eyes are full of wickedness, malice and cunning as she persuades him to seduce teenage virgin Cecile (Fairuza Balk) to harm the girl’s fiancé Gercourt (Jeffrey Jones).

Fairuza Balk, Meg Tilly as Madame de Tourvel and Henry Thomas as Danceny are pleasing as the young lovers, pawns in their evil game. But the best acting (other than the two stars) comes from Jeffrey Jones as Gercourt, Fabia Drake as Madame de Rosemonde and Siân Phillips as Madame de Volanges, who score strongly as the grown-ups, along with Ian MacNeice, Isla Blair, Ronald Lacey, Vincent Schiavelli and T P McKenna.

Forman makes his movie of the story look even more breathtaking than the Stephen Frears version, which was based on the stage play rather than the novel, and, although Valmont is a long film, running 137 minutes, there is no fat on it. The heroes here are Jean-Claude Carrière, the author of the screenplay, Miroslav Ondricek, the cinematographer, Pierre Guffroy, the Production Designer, and Theodor Pištěk, the Costume Designer. There is impeccable work all round, in every department. Its failure must have been heartbreaking.

This was the heartbreak. On an estimated budget of $33,000,000, it earned $1,132,112 at the box office.

Valmont received a single Oscar nomination and a single Bafta nomination for Best Costume Design (Theodor Pištěk). At the César Awards, Theodor Pištěk won for Best Costume Design and Pierre Guffroy won for Best Production Design. Annette Bening won the London Critics Circle Film Award for Newcomer of the Year.

It is Fabia Drake’s final film role.

Previous versions: Les Liaisons Dangereuses (1959) and Dangerous Liaisons (1988). It was successfully remade as an American teen movie in 1999 as Cruel Intentions.

The cast are Colin Firth as Valmont, Annette Bening as Merteuil, Meg Tilly as Madame de Tourvel, Fairuza Balk as Cécile de Volanges, Siân Phillips as Madame de Volanges, Jeffrey Jones as Gercourt, Henry Thomas as Danceny, Fabia Drake as Madame de Rosemonde, T P McKenna as Baron, Isla Blair as Baroness, Ian McNeice as Azolan, Aleta Mitchell as Victoire, Ronald Lacey as José, Vincent Schiavelli as Jean, and Sandrine Dumas as Martine.

On a personal note:

Yes, loved Valmont. It was a UK French co-production. I remember attending a very early screening, and having a long talk afterwards with the English producer Timothy Burrill, who was nervous about its reception in the UK, congratulating him and assuring him he’d have a big hit on his hands. I think I said that Firth and Bening are tremendous, and that it’s a wonderful production. Of course then when it came out it was overlooked and undervalued, coming in the wake of the acclaimed and popular Dangerous Liaisons.

Would it have been a hit without Dangerous Liaisons? Well, maybe.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3522

Link to Derek Winnert’s home page for more reviews: http://derekwinnert.com/