While we await the latest revival of Christopher Hampton’s Les Liaisons Dangereuses, which opens this fall at the Booth Theatre, it’s the perfect time to watch any of the six film adaptations of the play’s source—Pierre Choderlos de Laclos’ 1782 novel of love and cruelty in pre-Revolutionary France. Here’s the lowdown on three of the most popular versions of the classic…
Considering the steamy content of the original novel, it’s hardly surprising that Les Liaisons Dangereuses didn’t come to the screen until 1959, when director Roger Vadim’s jazz-infused nouvelle-vague version—starring a young Jeanne Moreau—was nearly banned in several countries, including France.
Then there’s 1999’s Cruel Intentions, which reset the story in contemporary Manhattan and recast the French aristocrats as wealthy American teenagers. Starring Ryan Phillippe, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Reese Witherspoon, the film was a hit with young audiences and inspired several made-for-TV spin-offs.
But perhaps the most acclaimed film version of the novel is 1988’s Dangerous Liaisons, which was based directly on Christopher Hampton’s play. The film received seven Academy Award nominations (including Best Picture) and won three, including one for the screenplay, which Hampton adapted from his own script.
And now the play is back in a new production starring Tony- and Drama Desk-winner Janet McTeer and Tony®-winner Liev Schreiber. While time may have changed what we find shocking in the story, Les Liaisons Dangereuses remains a thrilling look at decadence, innocence, corruption and the redeeming power of love.