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The new TV series sees the passionate love
affair of protagonists Marquise de Merteuil and Vicomte de
Valmont turn sour in pre-revolutionary Paris. Young, poor and
traumatised by their past, the kindred spirits are driven apart
as they seek a better life for themselves, eventually turning
into morally corrupt rivals who use seduction and manipulation
to destroy lives around them.
Earlier screen adaptations of the book include Stephen Frears'
1988 film "Dangerous Liaisons" with Glenn Close, John Malkovich
and Michelle Pfeiffer and 1999’S "Cruel Intentions" starring
Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe and Reese Witherspoon.
"It is a prelude to what we see later with the book and the
Malkovich version," Australian actor Nicholas Denton, who plays
Valmont, told Reuters.
"It's their kind of origin story. We see them and we see why
they become the way they are."
The series’ creator, writer, showrunner and executive producer
Harriet Warner said she was inspired by one particular letter in
the epistolary novel, in which the marquise describes creating
herself to survive and to navigate the world she is in.
The details made Warner wonder who the marquise, who goes by
Camille and is played by Australian Alice Englert in the series,
was before. To tell that story, Warner assembled a largely
female-led team around her.
"It's interesting because my slight reservations about coming to
it was as a feminist, how to love this destructive narcissist
who's Valmont," she said.
"As key as discovering the way into Camille was the way into
Valmont, that meant that you can understand his behaviour.
There's a complexity, I think, that the show allows the
characters that you don't get in the novel. In the novel you
have two very spoilt people, destroying women as a game."
The 8-episode first season of "Dangerous Liaisons" premieres on
LIONSGATE+ on Sunday.
(Reporting by Hanna Rantala; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
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