Dangerous Liaisons
– China,
2012
This is the third film adaptation of Choderlos de Laclos’s
1782 novel Les Liaisons dangereuses
that I have seen, and it is the second best of the three, sandwiched of course
between 1988’s Dangerous Liaisons and
1999’s discomforting Cruel Intentions.
The former I enjoyed a great deal; the latter left me feeling extremely cold. Laclos’s
novel is often seen as a critique of the decadence that existed prior to the
French Revolution, and its depiction of high-class aristocrats destroying the
lives of innocent people likely both shocked and mesmerized its readers. Sadly,
this latest adaptation is not likely to do either.
The film is directed by South Korean Jin-ho Hur, who also
made 2007’s emotionally moving film Happiness.
Hur’s adaptation is set in Shanghai
in 1931, and it is quite easy to see the parallels that screenwriter Geling Yan
is drawing between pre-revolution France and pre-World War II China. While France’s aristocracy lived the good life at the
expense of average French citizens, Shanghai’s
elite, at least according to the film, carried on as if the country’s ongoing
civil war and the imminent threat of Japanese aggression gave them no reason to
be concerned. In the film, they continue
living in opulence and worrying about such trivial matters as marrying rich and
ensuring the chastity of one’s future bride. Let the head shaking commence.
The film tells essentially the same story as the other
adaptations of Laclos’s novel. Here the two villains are Mo Jieyu (adequately
played by Cecilia Cheng) and Xie Yifan (South Korean actor Dong-gun Jang), and
like the other incarnations, the male in this pairing conspires to woo and dump
a young, unsuspecting woman. In this version, the intended victim is a widow named
Du Fenyu (Ziyi Zhang), and everything about her, from her clothing to the
placement of her arms, screams traditionalism. It is for this reason that Xie
sets his sights on her, and he would consider her downfall an impressive
personal achievement. His less-than-noble intentions morph into a wager between
Mo and Xie that will eventually be the ruin of all of them. The film also
features a younger woman whose mother is trying to keep her away from men until
she’s married, and the young man (here an artist) who pines for her. Then
there’s the film’s finale, in which violence and betrayal rear their ugly head
to put a final exclamation mark on what is supposed to be a rather explosive
and tragic tale.
The film misfires badly. Its first misstep is the casting of
Dong-gun Jang as Xie. Jang is a talented actor, yet in this film, he is woefully
miscast. While Jang is fully capable of playing a man with few moral scruples,
nothing he does in this film is likely to convince the audience that Xie would
win the heart of a woman like Du. When John Malkovich played this role, his
character was able to feign vulnerability and lure his target closer. It felt
authentic. However, Dong plays his moments with Du too aggressively. In fact, the
film seems to be operating under the assumption that all a man has to do is act
impulsively and be rude for a woman to fall in love with him. Also, throughout
the film, Dong seems incapable of playing warm and fuzzy, and as a result, key
moments when he is supposed to be confessing his true feelings only reinforce
the notion that his character is nothing but a pathological liar.
The film also makes the inexcusable mistake of misusing Ziyi
Zhang. Here appearing in a supporting role, Zhang is given very little to do
other than look as if she is doing all she can to suppress her passion. This
would be understandable if she were inexperienced in love (she isn’t) or if her
pursuer were actually doing something to earn her longing (he isn’t). However,
it is hard to imagine what she could like about someone whose attempts at
wooing her involve grabbing a book that belonged to her deceased husband,
throwing it into a swimming pool, and proclaiming that she must stop living in
the past. Has he never heard of flowers and chocolate? Add to this the film’s
overbearing soundtrack and its overreliance on tried-and-true cinematic devices
to evoke the audience’s sympathy, such as using slow motion to extend
supposedly heartbreaking scenes, and what we’re left with is a film that is
simultaneously trying too hard and not putting in enough of an effort.
We’ve seen all of this before, and in truth, we’ve seen it
done better. Therefore, I suggest a golden rule for films such as these. Simply put, when someone is considering remaking a film, let’s apply this simply standard before giving the remake the
green light: If it is not going to be an
improvement on the original (and it is not difficult to tell from a script that
it won’t be), don’t make it. Just say, “I’ll pass.” Better yet. Hire the writer
to produce something original, something that has authentic characters,
believable dialogue, and an uncompromised ending. Believe me, the film you come
up with is almost guaranteed to be better than this version of Dangerous Liaisons. (on Blu-ray in
Region A)
2 and a half stars
*Dangerous Liaisons is in Mandarin Chinese with English subtitles.
*Dangerous Liaisons is in Mandarin Chinese with English subtitles.
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