Dangerous Liaisons

Les liaisons dangereuses

Italy, France

1959

106 Min

Black and White

1.37:1

French

Currently 3.4/5 Stars.
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SCR Roger Vailland, Claude Brulé, Roger Vadim, Choderlos de Laclos

CAST Jeanne Moreau, Gérard Philipe, Annette Vadim, Madeleine Lambert, Jeanne Valérie, Nicolas Vogel, Boris Vian, Gillian Hills, Paquita Thomas, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Simone Renant

MUSIC James Campbell, Duke Jordan, Thelonious Monk

Synopsis

Jeanne Moreau stars as Juliette and Gerard Philipe as Valmont in this Roger Vadim retelling of the classic novel by Choderlos de Laclos. Juliette and Valmont are a cruel couple intent on breaking hearts. Openly engaging in affairs to outdo each other, their heartless mind games are threatened by Valmont’s growing love for Marianne (Annette Vadim). Juliette, who can handle her husband’s infidelity but not his love for another, wreaks havoc. —Flixster

Director

Roger Vadim

Originally a stage actor, and also a part-time journalist and screenwriter, Roger Vadim came to film as an assistant to movie director Marc Allegret, and subsequently married Allegret’s most well known discovery, Brigitte Bardot, whom he also starred with in numerous films of the 1950s. Vadim became internationally known for his 1956 debut film And God Created Woman, which trod new ground in eroticism during the 1950s, and also starred Bardot. His later films luxuriated in their lushness and decadence, a process that continued with Vadim’s subsequent marriage to Jane Fonda, who also became one of his most renowned leading ladies. However, since the late 1960s, with the general opening up of American films to more overtly sexual content, Vadim’s popularity and success outside of Europe have fallen off markedly, and an American remake of And God Created Woman (1988) provoked yawns as much as curiosity from critics and the public alike. Vadim and Fonda have since divorced… read more