In 18th century France, Marquise de Merteuil asks her ex-lover Vicomte de Valmont to seduce the future wife of another ex-lover of hers in return for one last night with her. Yet things don’t go as planned.
Director Stephen Frears accelerates entertainingly through Christopher Hampton's wig-and-powder sado-comedy about sexual mind games in 18th-century France.
– Desson Thomson,
Washington Post,
1 Jan 2000
fresh:
Witty, entertaining, if occasionally overripe.
– Vincent Canby,
New York Times,
20 May 2003
fresh:
A sombre, manipulative affair in which the decor is never allowed to usurp our interest.
– Steve Grant,
Time Out,
26 Jan 2006
fresh:
The creepy plot still holds a certain fascination.
– Jonathan Rosenbaum,
Chicago Reader,
8 Feb 2008
rotten:
This incisive study of sex as an arena for manipulative power games takes too long to catch fire and suffers from a deficient central performance.