Dangerous Liaisons is a 1988 American period romantic drama film directed by Stephen Frears from a screenplay by Christopher Hampton, based on his 1985 play Les liaisons dangereuses, itself adapted from the 1782 French novel of the same name by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos.^[1] The film stars Glenn Close, John Malkovich, Michelle Pfeiffer, Uma Thurman, Swoosie Kurtz, Mildred Natwick, Peter Capaldi and Keanu Reeves.

Dangerous Liaisons was theatrically released by Warner Bros. Pictures on December 16, 1988. The film received widespread critical acclaim upon release, with high praise for the screenplay, production values, costumes and the performances of Close and Pfeiffer. Grossing $34.7 million against its $14 million budget, it emerged as a moderate commercial success at the box-office.

Dangerous Liaisons received 7 nominations at the 61st Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actress (for Close) and Best Supporting Actress (for Pfeiffer), and won 3 awards including Best Adapted Screenplay.^[2][3] At the 43rd British Academy Film Awards, the film received a leading 10 nominations, including Best Direction (for Frears), Best Actress in a Leading Role (for Close), and won 2 awards including Best Actress in a Supporting Role (for Pfeiffer).

In pre-Revolution Paris, the Marquise de Merteuil plots revenge against her ex-lover, the Comte de Bastide, who recently ended their relationship. To soothe her wounded pride and embarrass Bastide, she seeks to arrange the seduction and disgrace of his young virgin fiancée, Cécile de Volanges, who has only recently been presented to society after spending her formative years in the shelter of a convent.

Merteuil calls on the similarly unprincipled Vicomte de Valmont, another ex-lover of hers, to do the deed. Valmont declines, as he is plotting to seduce Madame de Tourvel, the wife of a member of Parliament away in Burgundy and a current houseguest of Valmont's aunt, Madame de Rosemonde. Amused and incredulous at Valmont's hubris in pursuing the chaste, devoutly religious Tourvel, Merteuil ups the ante: if Valmont somehow succeeds in seducing Tourvel and can furnish written proof, Merteuil will sleep with him as well. Never one to refuse a challenge, Valmont accepts.

Tourvel rebuffs all of Valmont's advances. Searching for leverage, he instructs his page Azolan to seduce Tourvel's maid Julie and gain access to Tourvel's private correspondence. One of the letters intercepted is from Cécile's mother and Merteuil's cousin, Madame de Volanges, warning Tourvel that Valmont is nefarious and untrustworthy. Valmont resolves to seduce Cécile as revenge for her mother's accurate denunciation of him.

At the opera, Cécile meets the charming and handsome Chevalier Raphael Danceny, who becomes her music teacher. They fall in love with coaxing from Merteuil, who knows that Danceny, as a nobleman of lesser rank, naive, young, and not particularly wealthy, can never qualify as a bona fide suitor.

Valmont gains access to Cécile's bedchamber on a pretext, and sexually assaults her. As she pleads with him to leave, he blackmails her into giving up physical resistance, and the scene ends. On the pretext of illness, Cécile remains locked in her chambers, refusing all visitors. A concerned Madame de Volanges asks Merteuil to speak to Cécile; Cécile confides in Merteuil, naively assuming that she has Cécile's best interests at heart. Merteuil advises Cécile to welcome Valmont's advances; she says young women should take advantage of all the lovers they can acquire in a society so repressive and contemptuous of women. The result is a "student-teacher" relationship; by day, Cécile is courted by Danceny, and each night she receives a sexual "lesson" from Valmont. Merteuil begins an affair with Danceny.

After a night in Valmont's bed, Cécile miscarries his child. Meanwhile, Valmont has won Tourvel's heart, but at a cost: the lifelong bachelor playboy falls in love. In a fit of jealousy, Merteuil mocks Valmont and refuses to honor her end of their agreement unless Valmont breaks up with Tourvel. Valmont abruptly dismisses Tourvel with a terse excuse: "It's beyond my control." Overwhelmed with grief and shame, Tourvel retreats to a monastery where her health deteriorates rapidly.

Despite the breakup, Merteuil still refuses to honor the agreement and even declares "war". She informs Danceny that Valmont has been sleeping with Cécile. Danceny challenges Valmont to a duel, ending with the latter voluntarily running into Danceny's sword. With his dying breath, Valmont asks Danceny to communicate to Tourvel his true feelings for her; he also warns Danceny about Meurteuil and gives him his collection of intimate letters from her as proof of the veracity of his warnings. Valmont tells Danceny to circulate them after he has read them.

After hearing Valmont's message from Danceny, Tourvel dies. Merteuil goes to the opera but she is booed by her former friends and sycophants, implying that all of Paris have learned the full range of Merteuil's schemes and depredations due to Danceny's circulation of the letters. She flees in disgrace. In the last shot we see her removing her makeup, alone.

Dangerous Liaisons was the first English-language film adaptation of Laclos's novel. The screenplay was based on Christopher Hampton's Olivier Award-winning and Tony Award-nominated theatrical adaptation for the Royal Shakespeare Company,^[4] directed by Howard Davies and featuring Lindsay Duncan, Alan Rickman and Juliet Stevenson.

The film was shot entirely on location in the Île-de-France region of northern France, and featured historical buildings such as the Château de Vincennes in Val-de-Marne, the Château de Champs-sur-Marne, the Château de Guermantes in Seine-et-Marne, the Château du Saussay in Essonne, and the Théâtre Montansier in Versailles.^[5]

Liaisons was the final film appearance of Academy Award and Tony Award-nominated actress Mildred Natwick.^{[6][unreliable source?]} Drew Barrymore auditioned for the role of Cécile, and Sarah Jessica Parker turned it down before it was offered to Thurman.^[6] Annette Bening went through several auditions for the role of the courtesan Émilie, but in the end the role went to Laura Benson.^[7] Bening would go on to play the role of the Marquise de Merteuil in Miloš Forman's adaptation of Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Valmont, a year later.

During production Malkovich had an affair with Pfeiffer. His six-year marriage to actress Glenne Headly ended shortly thereafter.^[8][9][10]

Thurman later revealed that she stripped for this film because she thought it was the right choice at the time despite her immense nervousness, but she hated how "voyeuristic" the final cut of the scene was and resolved not to go naked in a movie again.^[11]

The score of Dangerous Liaisons was written by the British film music composer George Fenton. The soundtrack also includes works by a number of baroque and classical composers, reflecting the story's 18th-Century-French setting; pieces by Antonio Vivaldi, Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frideric Handel and Christoph Willibald Gluck feature prominently, although no French composers are included.^[12]

Almost 25 years after he played Valmont, John Malkovich directed a French-language version of Hampton's play in Paris, which ran at the Théâtre de l'Atelier.^[35][36] In December 2012, the production was brought to Lansburgh Theatre by the Shakespeare Theatre Company for a limited run in Washington, D.C.^[37]

In 1989, the film Valmont was released starring Colin Firth, Annette Bening and Meg Tilly.

In 1999, the film Cruel Intentions set the same story in present-day America, starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe and Reese Witherspoon.

In 2012, a Chinese version was released, starring Jang Dong-gun, Zhang Ziyi and Cecilia Cheung. It is loosely based on the novel itself and is set in 1930s Shanghai.

In 2018, the TV series The Great Seducer was released as a modern-day adaptation set in Korea starring Joy (singer), Moon Ga-young, Kim Min-jae (actor, born 1996) and Woo Do-hwan.

Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders parodied Dangerous Liaisons on their sketch show French & Saunders, which then inspired their 1999 comedy series Let Them Eat Cake.

In 2022, the series Dangerous Liaisons premiered on premium television provider Starz. According to writer Harriet Warner, the series is loosely inspired by the novel and explores the marquise's life before the events of the play.^[38]