Pierre Choderlos de Laclos 18th century erotic novel Dangerous Liaisons has been adapted for the screen numerous times with varying degrees of success. Probably the best is Stephen Frears' 1988 film with John Malkovich, Glenn Close, and Michelle Pfeiffer, which was nominated for seven Academy Awards that year, winning three. It's a great story, combining sexual warfare, devious head games, and socio-political maneuverings that are are just as relevant and thrilling today as when the novel was first published, which is why it's being brought to the screen yet again, only in a very different way.
A new trailer for Hur Jin-Ho's Chinese version of Dangerous Liaisons has been released, setting the classic tale of sexual indulgence and greed to 1930s Shanghai. Zhang Ziyi plays an innocent and chaste humanitarian who becomes the object of lust for a notorious philanderer and sexual deviant(Jang Dong-Kun), drawing the ire of an aging socialite(Cecilia Cheung) who plots to ruin her. Gorgeously shot and similarly soulful as Ang Lee's Lust, Caution, it doesn't appear to have quite the same wickedness as Frears' adaptation. But the chance to see Ziyi play against type opposite some of today's best international stars is worth getting excited over.
Dangerous Liaisons opens on November 9th....
