The men in this movie are all ugly including John Malkovich. The ladies are pretty and three of them go nude. That is
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fidelio1980 — 15 years ago(September 05, 2010 11:02 PM)
I've seen Valmont, and I love it. I find it impossible to choose between Dangerous Liaisons and Valmont - they each have different strengths and flaws.
But, that said, anyone who says that Dangerous Liaisons glorified the rape of a young girl, while Valmont didn't, is either confusing the two movies, or is a troll.
In Valmont, an actual pubescent girl was cast as Cecile, as opposed to Uma Thurman, who was all woman, physically. (Cecile is supposed to be pubescent, so the casting of an actress in her early teens in Valmont made sense.) And when Cecile loses her virginity to Valmont, it's played for laughs. Valmont never asks for her consent, and he basically bullies and blackmails her into not yelling for help.
She enjoys the experience (she says so, explicitly, later), but Valmont pays no attention to whether she's enjoying it or not. And, like I said, the whole thing is played for laughs. Valmont orders her to write a letter while he takes her virginity, and he keeps telling her to focus on the letter and her penmanship, as if he isn't doing anything to her that concerns her. It's funny and horribly disturbing at the same time. Much, much, much more disturbing than the scene in Dangerous Liaisons.
Which is exactly how it's supposed to be. Valmont is simultaneously charming and a monster. If he was played as someone who respects women's boundaries, it would be a pointless adapation of the book, because it would be so far removed from what the book is actually about. -
fuzzybeasty — 15 years ago(October 08, 2010 06:45 AM)
Mattfg if it comes over as sexist or misogynistic it's because it's set in a time and place that was hugely both of these things. I actually prefer Valmont as a film, but I think this complaint is of this film is way out there.
"Typical 1980s pro-male, anti-female selfishness" - typical 18th century attitudes is more the correct phrasing -
hkronin — 14 years ago(September 01, 2011 10:17 AM)
I just saw Schindler's List, and was horrified. It was a movie about anti-semitism, murder, and violence. It was horrible.
I much prefer the TV series Hogan's Heroes. While it covered the same material it did so in a much more pleasant way. -
furienna — 11 years ago(January 27, 2015 10:58 PM)
I have to admit that I largely agree with the OP on this one. There are many things to like about this movie. The actors were great, and it
looked
great. But I so hate the story! Yeah, I guess that we're
supposed
to be disgusted by these selfish perverts, who will destroy other people's lives just out of their boredom. But still, yuck I will never understand how Cecile could be seduced by Valmost, or how Danceny could be seduced by the Marquise de Merteuil!
Intelligence and purity.
