NTLive presents Les Liaisons Dangereuses
Directed by Josie Rourke
Starring Elaine Cassidy, Janet McTeer and Dominic West
Film review by Reuben Acciano
Choderlos de Laclos’ 1782 novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses probably needs no introduction – the 1988 film Dangerous Liaisons starring Glenn Close and John Malkovich adapted from Christopher Hampton’s play was a huge hit (in both forms) and was even adapted as campy teen melodrama in 1999 film Cruel Intentions.
What’s striking about the snapshot of courtly machinations around sex and power is how thoroughly modern (and, unexpectedly, feminist) the source material is. Questions are posed about the nature of desire, where and how powerful figures can be weak and the relative perceptions of ‘winning’ and ‘losing’ for men and women in love and sex.
The Vicomte de Valmont (Dominic West) is a remorseless rake who enjoys games of seduction and revenge with his old flame, the Marquise de Merteuil (Janet McTeer). The Marquise is bent on ruining the reputation of ingenue Cécile des Volanges (Morfydd Clark) and entreats Valmont to sully her virtue prior to her imminent wedding but, finding such a challenge too easy, Valmont is instead fixated on the seemingly impossible: bedding the deeply pious (and married) Madame de Tourvel (Elaine Cassidy). Intrigued by Valmont’s proposal, Merteuil agrees that, should he achieve this, he can have a night with her again. But, of course, she would not agree to this wager had she no plans of her own…
Considering the source material is an epistolary novel – like Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, told almost entirely in letters – the adaptation to a play form is unexpectedly suited; for the expositions of the letters and the viewpoints of their various authors we have instead scenes of (often very witty) dialogue, and plot developments and time passage loosely translate to scene transitions.
For those new to the NTLive experience, the premise is this: the play is performed live at a London theatre with a multi-camera set-up allowing for live editing/vision switching, fed in real time to audiences in cinemas ostensibly around the world.
What this produces is a unique hybrid of live tv and theatre. The energy of a live play is retained, complete with all the audience murmurs and actor line stumbles, while the visual direction allows for greater emotional impact. A close-up or tight two shot, for example, conveys more than the limitations a more static theatre direction might afford.
The tiny Donmar Theatre, so compact some audience members are visibly in shot and actually sitting onstage, is a perfect choice for the small cast and low-action, heavily dialogue-driven script. Wardrobe and art direction are period; I’m agreeing with playwright Christopher Hampton here, this accentuates the modernity in a way from which the anachronism of modern dress might actually detract.
Dominic West (best known as McNulty from The Wire) is a bombastic joy as Valmont, but the play belongs to McTeer’s Merteuil, whose serpentine vitriol seems not personal but driven by a deep sense of injustice at the different expectations for men and women in romance and society, and Elaine Cassidy as Mme de Tourvel, the destroyed pawn in the aristocrats’ wicked game.
This NTLive performance is preceded by a brief doco on the production and historical context of the novel featuring interviews with playwright Christopher Hampton and director Josie Rourke, plus asides with the key players. There is a 15 minute interval and, though the total running time is over three hours, the structure is forgiving and the play never seems overly long.
NTLive presents Les Liaisons Dangereuses plays at Cinema Nova, Carlton from April 9.
