Les Liaisons dangereuses

Les Liaisons dangereuses (Dangerous Liaisons) is a famous French epistolary novel by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, first published in 1782.

Adaptations

The novel has been made into a play by Christopher Hampton. It has also been filmed various times, under many different names:

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• Les Liaisons dangereuses (1959), directed by Roger Vadim and starring Jeanne Moreau, Gérard Philipe, and Annette Vadim. In this version, Vadim updates the story to a late-1950s French bourgeois milieu.
• Dangerous Liaisons (1988), directed by Stephen Frears and starring Glenn Close, John Malkovich, and Michelle Pfeiffer (based on Hampton's play). This version uses eighteenth-century costumes and dazzling shots of the Île-de-France region around Paris.
• Valmont (1989), directed by Milos Forman and starring Annette Bening, Colin Firth, and Meg Tilly
• Cruel Intentions (1999), directed by Roger Kumble and starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Philippe, and Reese Witherspoon (a modern reworking)
• Untold Scandal (2003), directed by Lee Je Yong and starring Lee Mik Suk, Jeon Do Yeon, and Bae Yong Jun (transposes the novel to eighteenth-century Korea, not unlike how Akira Kurosawa retold King Lear as Ran)

There have also been many television adaptations of the novel. These include:

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• Les Liaisons dangereuses (1980), a French television film directed by Claude Barma, starring Claude Degliame, Jean-Pierre Bouvier and Maïa Simon
• Les Liaisons dangereuses (2003), a French television serial directed by Josée Dayan and starring Catherine Deneuve, Rupert Everett and Nastassja Kinski.