Les Liasions Dangereuse directed by Josée Dayan Wellspring   Reviewed by Tony Buchsbaum	Remakes are an interesting sub-genre. Hollywood certainly loves them: Why make something new when you can make something old (and proven) in a new way? Sometimes remakes are just embarrassing. Sometimes the original is hardly off the radar when someone else is doing another. The novel Les Liaisons Dangereuse by Choderlos de Laclos has been one of those books that people love to make into films in their own creative image. The first was directed by Roger Vadim in 1959. Then, in 1980, two TV movies were made, one French, the other Czech. A few years later, it was famously remade twice in two years. In 1988 Stephen Frears directed Dangerous Liaisons, with Glenn Close as the Marquise de Merteuil, John Malcovich as Valmont, Michelle Pfeiffer as Madame de Tourvel, Uma Thurman as Cecile and Keanu Reeves as Danceny. And in 1989, Milos Forman directed Valmont, with Annette Bening as Merteuil, Colin Firth as Valmont, Meg Tilly as Tourvel, Fairuza Balk as Cecile and Henry Thomas as Danceny. One good look at the casts shows you how different these films were. Whereas Frears' take on the material was edgy, mean and almost grotesquely obsessed with itself, Forman's was more interested in the glamour of it all, the look and feel of the period. Both films were fat and chewy with layer upon layer of evil manipulation, with people moved like pawns on a chessboard, but I always thought there was a touch more depth in Frears' version. As if all this were not enough, the novel was remade as an operatic American TV movie in 1994 and was reformed into the modern-day Cruel Intentions in 1999, with the action set in and around high school. Here, Sarah Michelle Gellar was Merteuil, Ryan Phillippe was Valmont and Selma Blair was Cecile. Now comes Les Liaisons Dangereuse, a five and a half hour French TV miniseries that brings more of Laclos' novel to the screen than any other version, while setting the action in a sort of retro modern-day France. (The 3-DVD set has been released in the U.S. recently, following a showing on the WE Network.) This time, Catherine Deneuve plays Merteuil, Rupert Everett plays Valmont, Nastassja Kinski plays Tourvel, and Leelee Sobieski plays Cecile. Each of them is brilliant, if not sometimes downright scary. Deneuve is icy as Madame de Merteuil. Glenn Close was icy, too, but back in 1988, she was still a young enough woman to seem merely bitchy. Deneuve takes the role to new places, wisely drawing on her age and reputation. She bases everything on revenge, bitterness and anger. This is a woman who refuses to be manipulated in the least; instead, she is the manipulator, the queen of all chess pieces. In this version, much more is given to her past, which defines her motivations. The material elevates Merteuil from someone who's incredibly mean to someone you can almost understand, whose actions, if not justified, are certainly the kind of stuff we all fantasize about. Everett has never been better. For the first few scenes, I didn't even recognize him. He looks positively serpentine in this film, or like some carnivorous woodland creature, his hair slicked back, his eyes piercing in their intensity. He expertly vacillates between manipulator and manipulated, womanizer and womanized, all in an effort to get closer to either Merteuil or Cecile or Tourvel. Kinski tackles her role much in the way Michelle Pfeiffer did, as a woman whose love for her husband is defined by faith. It's a thankless role, really, purely reactive to the advances and betrayal of Valmont, but she holds her own. Leelee Sobieski is a revelation here. Suddenly, she's a full-figured woman, not the young girl who appeared in Deep Impact and Joan of Arc. She has an interesting look that she uses to full advantage, transforming supposed innocence into a poisonous, smoldering intensity. Cecile is in over her head for much of the action, but when she's in control, she rules the film -- and Sobieski knows when the moments are hers. This production of Liaisons was made in French, and the DVD gives you the option of using English subtitles. I must say that the subtitle writer did a wonderful job. Rather than translate the words, he translated the meaning, down to the subtlest nuances, and the result is a set of subtitles that's actually fun to read. Les Liaisons Dangereuse, in all its versions, is an exercise in scenery-chewing. There are so many amazing turns of the plot, so many ways that these characters betray one another, that keeping up is sometimes a challenge. But the denouement is a winner every time and everyone gets their comeuppance. This production, mostly set in modern day French countryside, is a feast for the eyes as much as the mind. The locations are unbelievably beautiful, from the classic chateaux to the jagged cliffs where characters come together in dangerous ways. As a whole, the film reminded me of a dinner party where only the finest, sweetest pastries are laid out on long tables covered with white cloth. You know you should stay away, have something a bit healthier -- but it's all so wickedly delicious. | July 2004   Tony Buchsbaum is the author of Total Eclipse. He writes advertising for a large marketing firm and is building a small book publishing company in Lawrenceville, NJ, where he lives with his wife and sons.	Deneuve is icy as Madame de Merteuil. Glenn Close was icy, too, but back in 1988, she was still a young enough woman to seem merely bitchy. Deneuve takes the role to new places, wisely drawing on her age and reputation. She bases everything on revenge, bitterness, and anger.