Les Liaisons dangereuses

Dangerous Liaisons

File:Les liaisons dangereuses novel cover art.png Penguin Classic edition of Les liaisons dangereuses
Author	Pierre Choderlos de Laclos
Original title	Les Liaisons dangereuses
Translator	P. W. K. Stone
Language	French
Genre	Epistolary novel
Publisher	Penguin Classic
Publication date	1782
Publication place	France
Published in English	1961-11-30
Media type	Print (Paperback)
Pages	400
ISBN	ISBN 978-0-14-044116-1

Les Liaisons dangereuses (Dangerous Liaisons) is a French epistolary novel by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, first published in 1782.

The book fascinates with its dark undertones. It is the story of the Marquise de Merteuil and the Vicomte de Valmont, two rivals who use sex as a weapon to humiliate and degrade others, all the while enjoying their cruel games. It also depicts the decadence of the French aristocracy shortly before the French Revolution; thus it is seen as a work that exposes the perversions of the so-called Ancien Régime.

The book is an epistolary novel, composed entirely of letters written by the various characters to each other. In particular, the letters between Valmont and the Marquise drive the plot, with those of other characters serving as illustrations to give the story its depth.

The novel has been translated into English many times, with Douglas Parmée's recent translation (Oxford: OUP, 1995) receiving favourable reviews.

It is often claimed to be the source of the saying "Revenge is a dish best served cold", a paraphrased translation of "La vengeance est un plat qui se mange froid." (more literally, "Revenge is a dish that is eaten cold"). However the expression does not actually occur in the original novel.

Plot summary

The Vicomte de Valmont is determined to lay a heavy stave on the virtuous (and married) Madame de Tourvel, who is living with Valmont's aunt while Monsieur de Tourvel is away for a court case. At the same time, the Marquise de Merteuil is determined to corrupt the young Cécile de Volanges, whose mother has only recently brought her out of a convent to be married to a former lover of Merteuil. Cécile falls in love with the Chevalier Danceny (her music tutor) and Merteuil and Valmont pretend to want to help the secret lovers in order to gain their trust, so that they can use them later in their own schemes.

Merteuil suggests that the Vicomte seduce Cécile in order to exact her revenge on Cécile's future husband. Valmont refuses as he wants to devote himself to seducing Madame de Tourvel. Merteuil promises Valmont that if he seduces Madame de Tourvel and provides her with written proof, she will spend the night with him. He expects rapid success, but does not find it as easy as his many other conquests. During the course of his pursuit, he discovers that Cécile's mother has written to Madame de Tourvel about his bad reputation. He avenges himself in seducing Cécile as Merteuil had suggested. In the meantime, Merteuil takes Danceny as a lover.

By the time Valmont has succeeded in seducing Madame de Tourvel, it is clear he has fallen in love with her. Jealous, Merteuil tricks him into breaking up with Madame de Tourvel — and reneges on her promise of spending the night with him. In response Valmont reveals that he prompted Danceny to reunite with Cécile, thus abandoning Merteuil. Merteuil declares war on Valmont, as such she reveals to Danceny that Valmont seduced Cécile. Danceny and Valmont duel. Valmont is fatally wounded, but before he dies he is reconciled with Danceny, giving him the letters proving Merteuil's own involvement. Two of these are sufficient to ruin her health and her reputation, and she flees the country. Furthermore, her face is left permanently scarred by her illness, and so she loses her greatest asset: her beauty. But the innocent still suffer: hearing of Valmont's death, Madame de Tourvel succumbs to a fever, while Cécile returns to the convent.

Literary significance and criticism

Wayland Young notes that most critics have viewed the work as "…a sort of celebration, or at least a neutral statement, of libertinism… pernicious and damnable… Almost everyone who has written about it has noted how perfunctory are the wages of sin…" He argues, however, that "…the mere analysis of libertinism… carried out by a novelist with such a prodigious command of his medium… was enough to condemn it and play a large part in its destruction." (Young, 1966, 246)

Adaptations

The novel has been made into a play by Christopher Hampton which opened on London's West End and later crossed over to Broadway with Alan Rickman originating the role of the Vicomte de Valmont, Lindsay Duncan as Marquise de Merteuil, and Juliet Stevenson as Tourvel. It has also been adapted into various other media, under many different names.

Film

• Les Liaisons dangereuses (1959), directed by Roger Vadim and starring Jeanne Moreau, Gérard Philipe, and Annette Vadim. In this version, Vadim updates the story to a late-1950s French bourgeois milieu.
• Uiheomhan gwangye—literally "Dangerous Liaison" in Korean—(1970), a Korean adaptation directed by Young Nam Ko and starring Mu-ryong Choi, Hie Mun, and Ji-myeong Oh
• Dangerous Liaisons (1988), directed by Stephen Frears and starring Glenn Close, John Malkovich, and Michelle Pfeiffer (based on Hampton's play). This version uses eighteenth-century costumes and dazzling shots of the Île-de-France region around Paris.
• Valmont (1989), directed by Miloš Forman and starring Annette Bening, Colin Firth, and Meg Tilly
• Cruel Intentions (1999), directed by Roger Kumble and starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe, and Reese Witherspoon (a modern reworking involving teens)
• Untold Scandal (2003), directed by Lee Je Yong and starring Lee Mik Suk, Jeon Do Yeon, and Bae Yong Joon (transposes setting to eighteenth-century Korea)
• Les Liaisons dangereuses, 2003 french remake by Josée Dayan, involving an all-star cast (Catherine Deneuve, Leelee Sobieski, Nastassja Kinski, Rupert Everett.
• Michael Lucas' Dangerous Liaisons (2005), an X-rated gay pornographic film variously described as a film adaptation and a remake. Directed by Michael Lucas with non-sexual cameo appearances by Boy George, Lady Bunny, Amanda Lepore, Hedda Lettuce, Michael Musto, Graham Norton, RuPaul, and Bruce Vilanch
• Bulldog in the White House (2006), directed by Todd Verow and starring Theodore Bouloukos, Todd Verow, and Jono Mainelli (a modern adaptation around the controversy surrounding White House reporter Jeff Gannon)

Television

• Les Liaisons dangereuses (1980), a French television film directed by Claude Barma, starring Claude Degliame, Jean-Pierre Bouvier and Maïa Simon)
• Les Liaisons dangereuses (2003), a French television miniseries directed by Josée Dayan and starring Catherine Deneuve, Rupert Everett and Nastassja Kinski, which relocates the story to the 1960s

Radio

• An eight-part adaptation of the novel was broadcast as BBC Radio 4's "Woman's Hour Drama" (20-30 July 1992). It starred Juliet Stevenson, Samuel West, Melinda Walker, Diana Rigg, and Roger Allam.
• A two-part presentation of Christopher Hampton's play by BBC World Service in 1998. It starred Ciaran Hinds (Vicomte de Valmont), Lindsay Duncan (Marquise de Merteuil), and Emma Fielding (Mme. de Tourvel). It won the Grand Award for Best Entertainment Program at the New York Radio Festival.

Operas

• The Dangerous Liaisons (1994, rev. 1996–1997) by the American composer Conrad Susa, commissioned by the San Francisco Opera. The opera was also aired on television in 1994 under the direction of Gary Halvorson and starring Frederica von Stade, Thomas Hampson, and Renée Fleming
• Les liaisons dangereuses (1996) by the Belgian composer Piet Swerts

Ballets

• 2005 - Adam Cooper, dancer and choreographer, starred in and co-directed a ballet of Les Liaisons Dangereuses, co-starring his wife Sarah Wildor.
• In 2008, the Alberta Ballet is performing a ballet version of Dangerous Liaisons[1].

References

• Young, Wayland (1964). Eros Denied: Sex in Western Society. New York: Grove. ISBN 1-125-40416-7. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)