Valmont (film)

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Valmont is a 1989 Orion drama/romance motion picture starring Colin Firth, Annette Bening, Meg Tilly, Fairuza Balk, and Siân Phillips. The movie was adapted for the screen by Jean-Claude Carrière and Miloš Forman, based on the French novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses (1782) by Choderlos de Laclos, and was directed by Miloš Forman, with screenplay by Jean-Claude Carrière.

Valmont received an Academy Award nomination for Best Costume Design (Theodor Pistek).

[edit] Plot

The story is about a beautiful and supremely manipulative widow, Merteuil (played by Bening), who discovers that her lover, Gercourt (played by Jeffrey Jones) has contrived to become secretly betrothed to Cecile (Fairuza Balk), the 15 year old daughter of her cousin, Madame de Volanges (played by Siân Phillips). Enraged, she tries to persuade her former lover, Valmont (played by Firth), to deflower the convent-educated Cecile and thus present Gercourt with used goods rather than the pure virgin he thinks he's getting, but he refuses, as he's focused on seducing the virtuous young matron Madame de Tourvel (played by Tilly). Valmont bets Merteuil that he can seduce her, even though she is an honorable woman; if he wins, he can have Merteuil to do with as he will, and if he loses he has to go to a monastery. Merteuil discovers that Cecile is involved in a secret infatuation with her music teacher, Danceny (played by Henry Thomas), and uses this to persuade her cousin to allow her to take the girl away to the country, where Valmont is maneuvered into seducing her. What follows is a tangled web of lies, loves and hates as each character tries to scheme their way to their preferred conclusion.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Trivia

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

• The 1988 movie, Dangerous Liaisons starring Glenn Close and John Malkovich and the 1999 movie, Cruel Intentions starring Sarah Michelle Gellar and Ryan Phillippe, are based on the same book.

[edit] Missing Original Scenes on MGM DVD

The DVD version of Valmont released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer suffers from a serious flaw which is the deletion of two scenes towards the end of the film after Madame de Tourvel has left Valmont the final time. Valmont and his butler Azolan (Ian McNeice) purchase a small bouquet of roses at the market. Valmont returns to Tourvel's apartments and walks past a parlor where a man is deeply engrossed in paperwork at a table, presumably Tourvel's husband. Valmont sees that Tourvel is not at home and gently lays the flowers on her bed, leaving quietly. These two scenes lead up to Valmont's despairing when he decides to seek out the duel with Danceny. The two scenes are completely missing from the MGM DVD version. The scenes are very brief but very poignant and beautiful and these deleted scenes are usually the sole point of grief concerning the DVD version and its release for the film's fans, since the delicate details of the film are one of its greatest strengths. These two scenes were included in the original VHS tape releases, forcing many of the film's admirers to scrounge for the old VHS copies when they are available on internet shopping websites.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] External links

• Valmont at the Internet Movie Database
• Valmont at Allmovie
• Valmont at Rotten Tomatoes