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Dangerous Liaisons

Dangerous Liaisons

Drama · Romance · 1988

In 18th century France, Marquise de Merteuil asks her ex-lover Vicomte de Valmont to seduce the future wife of another ex-lover of hers in return for one last night with her. Yet things don’t go as planned.

Movie details

Dangerous Liaisons

“Lust. Seduction. Revenge. The game as you've never seen it played before.”

1988 Drama · Romance 1h 59m

Critical arithmetic

The consensus, allegedly.

IMDb

7.5 / 10

79.3K votes

Rotten Tomatoes

91 %

Tomatometer

Metacritic

74 / 100

Metascore

TMDB

7.2 / 10

Community rating

External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.

In 18th century France, Marquise de Merteuil asks her ex-lover Vicomte de Valmont to seduce the future wife of another ex-lover of hers in return for one last night with her. Yet things don’t go as planned.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Dangerous Liaisons?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Madame Bovary

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Valmont

Valmont

Drama · 1989

Set in Baroque France, a scheming widow and her lover make a bet regarding the corruption of a recently married woman. The lover, Valmont, bets that he can seduce her, even though she is an honorable woman. If he wins, he can have his lover to do as he will. However, in the process of seducing the married woman, Valmont falls in love.

Fanny

Fanny

Drama · 1961

Almost 19-year-old Marius feels himself in a rut in Marseille, his life planned for him by his cafe'-owning father, and he longs for the sea. The night before he is to leave on a 5-year voyage, Fanny, a girl he grew up with, reveals that she is in love with him, and he discovers that he is in love with her. He must choose between an exciting life at sea, and a boring life with the woman he loves. And Fanny must choose between keeping the man she loves, and letting him live the life he seems to want.

The End of the Affair

The End of the Affair

Romance · 1999

On a rainy London night in 1946, novelist Maurice Bendrix has a chance meeting with Henry Miles, husband of his ex-mistress Sarah, who abruptly ended their affair two years before. Bendrix's obsession with Sarah is rekindled; he succumbs to his own jealousy and arranges to have her followed.

Edward II

Edward II

History · 1991

England, 14th century. King Edward II falls in love with Piers Gaveston, a young man of humble origins, whom he honors with favors and titles of nobility. The cold and jealous Queen Isabella conspires with the evil Mortimer to get rid of Gaveston, overthrow her husband and take power…

Total Eclipse

Total Eclipse

Drama · 1995

Young, wild poet Arthur Rimbaud and his mentor Paul Verlaine engage in a fierce, forbidden romance while feeling the effects of a hellish artistic lifestyle.

The Pillow Book

The Pillow Book

Drama · 1995

Nagito has a fetish for calligraphy on the human body and meets her ideal soulmate Jerome, an English translator sent to Japan. However, once Nagiko's father's gay publisher rejoins the scene, the story is overtaken by treachery and bloodlust.

Camille

Camille

Drama · 1936

Life in 1847 Paris is as spirited as champagne and as unforgiving as the gray morning after. In gambling dens and lavish soirees, men of means exert their wills and women turned courtesans exult in pleasure. One such woman is Marguerite Gautier, who begins a sumptuous romance with Armand Duval.

Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Stephen Frears

Written by

Christopher Hampton

Glenn Close

Glenn Close

Marquise Isabelle de Merteuil

John Malkovich

John Malkovich

Vicomte Sébastien de Valmont

Michelle Pfeiffer

Michelle Pfeiffer

Madame Marie de Tourvel

Uma Thurman

Uma Thurman

Cécile de Volanges

Swoosie Kurtz

Swoosie Kurtz

Madame de Volanges

Keanu Reeves

Keanu Reeves

Le Chevalier Raphael Danceny

Mildred Natwick

Mildred Natwick

Madame de Rosemonde

Court is in session

Put Dangerous Liaisons on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Prestige Tourist

“Sincerity is not manipulation.”

The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.

The prosecution The Adrenaline Seeker

“The strings are showing.”

Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.