Dangerous Liaisons (1988)

Directed by Stephen Frears. Starring John Malkovich, Glenn Close, Michelle Pfeiffer, Uma Thurman, Keanu Reeves, Swoosie Kurtz, Peter Capaldi, Mildred Natwick, Laura Benson, Valerie Gogan. [R]

Games of seduction and revenge as played between pitiless members of 18th-century French nobility: Malkovich is tasked to seduce virginal Thurman, with co-conspirator Close as his licentious reward, but instead chooses virtuous Pfeiffer as his conquest. As with most aristocratic period pieces, it takes a little while for the stuffy window dressing to transition to sublime décor (be it scenery, character or commentary), but once the spell is weaved, the libertine marksmanship surpasses the absorbing and grazes the outer edges of the spellbinding. Close has never been better; Malkovich is quite good as well, though he’s only half-right for the part—as a sinister manipulator, he’s masterful, but he’s less convincing as a charmer that beds half the gentry and is capable of genuine love. One of many cinematic adaptations of the scandalous Pierre Choderlos de Laclos novel, it earned screenwriter Christopher Hampton an Oscar; the sumptuous costumes and set design were awarded by the same group.

83/100