Dangerous Liasons by Laclos, and the film based on it by Frears, follow the sexual escapades of Vicomte de Valmont and Marquise de Merteuil. They outline their love-hate relationship and their preferred past time: manipulating and conquering men and women for the sheer challenge or to fulfill personal and more sinister purposes. However, in the end, it is these schemes that lead to the literal death of Valmont and the social death of Merteuil. The film and the text combined present a better analysis of the characters by using the advantages of each medium. The attitudes of the characters do diverge at some points from the text but only as to lend the film freedom to create a more theatrical rendition of the letters.
The premise of the film and the novel is more or less the same. At this particular point in the story, Marquise de Merteuil makes the argument that Valmont will be the laughing stock of society after word of his affair with Tourvel spreads. Both mediums spend quite some time establishing that Valmont is known for and is infamous for his conquests. People around him seem to value his cunningness and he exerts power by making women fall in love with him while remaining detached himself. A prime example of this is Valmont’s servant who enthusiastically participates in all his schemes. Thus, the buildup to this moment is well established in both parallels.
However, a broad difference that stands out between the book and film is the relationship between Valmont and Marquise de Merteuil. The film portrays the two characters to be more sexually attracted to each other rather than as being in love. Especially as the film progresses, their arrangement to spend the night together becomes more matter of fact, more like a bet. We see less physical and verbal expressions of love as the film progresses and more passive aggressive comments, taunts and sarcasm. In contrast, in the letters, despite the brimming conflict, Valmont and Merteuil explicitly express their love for each other. They are both adamant that what they have between them is love, Merteuil more so than Valmont as he has obviously fallen in love with another. Thus, it is in this similar but somewhat different context that the book and film operate.
The film also explores the theme of control in greater depth. Valmont and Merteuil thrive on controlling other people and as the plot unfolds, each other. It is this loss of control that Valmont experiences through the loss of Tourvel and Merteuil later experiences due to his death and the leaking of his letters, that lead to their respective downfalls. Merteuil is alarmed when Valmont uncharacteristically falls in love and seeks to control him but that only leads to Valmont fighting back to regain control by dying on his own terms and causing Merteuil’s social death. The games they play with their suitors are more obvious examples of this: Valmont completely controls Trouvel’s perception of him in order to seduce her and Merteuil deliberately puts ideas into Cecil’s head. However, in the film this is explored in greater depth through body language, action and surprisingly mirrors as highlighted in later in the essay.
Valmont is already planning on pursuing Presindente de Tourvel because she is unavailable due to her religiosity and marital status when the letters and film start. In his conversations with Marquiese de Merteuil Valmont periodically describes Tourvel as beautiful but attractive to him because she is a challenge. The problem occurs when she finally gives into him and he unwittingly and uncharacteristically falls in love with her.
Merteuil is quick to recognize that Valmont is in love and uses that to tear Valmont away from Tourvel. Letter 141 and the film clip both start off with a speech by Merteuil. In short, she believes that Valmont has fallen in love with his newest conquest and that if this information were to get out he would be the center of ridicule in society. In the letter, she elaborates that Valmont is no more than a slave to Tourvel and has assigned ‘charms and qualities’ to her that she does not possess. She also expresses her own chagrin and disgust at this unfolding more explicitly in this letter which is exemplified by the happiness she will later express in letter 145. These two qualities are absent from the speech that she makes to Valmont in the film. Her demeanor is more controlled and deliberate. She looks straight ahead and moves down the stairs with purpose, forcing him to keep up with her all the while laying down the problem for him in a matter of fact tone. She delves into her speech when he asks whether she will present him with yet another condition and so the music, change in camera angle and the pause that follow suggest that her condition is that he leave Tourvel. In the letter, she simply calls it an ‘ultimatum’. Thus, her character is much more in tune with her own motives in the book.
Films are a visual medium and thus all of this happens in real time and we are privy to the firsthand reactions of the characters themselves. We see how, on the stairwell, Valmont hangs on to every single word that Merteuil says to him. He walks backward out of the room in the beginning of the scene and his eyes never leave her face as they descend down the staircase and she presents her case. The subsequent close camera angle when she starts her speech show us Valmont’s intent expression as he listens to her. When she turns back up the stairs, we are able to see that he is affected and torn by what she has just said to him. Thus, we are ironically better able to gauge his thought process in the film than in the letters.
However, the way she persuades him is the same across mediums. She uses the example of a friend who got ‘embroiled’ in a similar situation who used the excuse ‘it is not my fault’ in the novel and ‘it is out of my control’ in the film. The use of this particular synonymous phrase in the film keeps with the stronger theme of control that is presented in it. It is actually not in Valmont’s control but rather in Merteuil’s.She draws a parallel between the man and Valmont hoping perhaps to make him see his actions objectively and to give him strength to break off his affair. In letter 141 she simply sends him the letter that the man used to end his affair and Valmont so affected by her argument that forwards the letter to Tourvel.
There is a stark difference between Valmont’s reaction to breaking up with Tourvel in the book and film. In letter 142, Valmont almost nonchalantly explains that he simply forwarded the letter to Tourvel and is ready to claim his prize ‘love’s most tender kiss’. He is seemingly less remorseful or torn than we see in the film but still wants to know about the man that Merteuil presented to him as an example. He asks whether the man is able to mend his ways. This could mean that he wants to know whether the man actually ever stopped loving his mistress and if so how because he is finding it difficult to do so. Yet, this is a concealed and repressed expression of what he feels as compared the film.
In the film, we see him break off his affair with Tourvel in person. In the scene, right after his talk with Merteuil, he shows up to Tourvel’s room. We see that he finds this task unbearable as he holds on to Tourvel for a few second before he tells her he cannot be with her. Here the film uses the content of letter 141 and he breaks up with her in a similar manner. He calls her his angel, explains that it has been four months and he is now bored and finishes the blow by admitting that not only has he been unfaithful to her but that he is in love with another woman and is leaving Tourvel to be with her. He makes most of his speech while looking into the mirror and barely looks Tourvel in the eye during the whole episode, hinting at how he is unable to face her and that he is practicing great self-control by doing this. The mirror serves as a tool through which Valmont practices self-control but is also reminiscent of Mertueil. By this time, the audience associate mirrors with Mertueil. This is so prominent that as early as the opening scene of the film, we see Mertueil admiring herself in a mirror. When he shuts the door, we hear her cries as he does and his hand wavers on the doorknob for a second before he walks away. He is already regretting what he has done.
Tourvel, on the other hand reacts very differently in the film and letter. In the film, she is more dramatic as does suit a film. She cries, protests and hits him while in the book she simply shuts him out. She is deeply affected in both instances. She cries that she might die when he is leaving her in the film and in the book in her letter to Madame de Rosemonde, she speaks of a ‘certain and early death’. Her episode of emotion is in contrast to the scenes before this in which the characters are mostly reserved and controlled and thus it makes more of an impact to suddenly see a character come undone. The music that plays after Valmont leaves and her sobbing dies down marks the end of their relationship and the turning point of the film.
A troubled Valmont breaks the news to Merteuil himself in the film. In contrast to his nonchalant letter, his physical and mental health looks to have been affected by what he has just done in the previous scene. Merteuil is amused to hear that he has finally gotten rid of Tourvel while in the letter she expresses more happiness after hearing so. ‘You are a delight! She says expressing her jublience. However, things suddenly turn for the worse for Valmont when she explains how she manipulated him to break up with the one woman that he loves. In both the letter and the books she explains that Tourvel will not take him back because the way that she made him break up with her ensured that he could ever forgive him. ‘When a woman strikes into the heart of another she rarely fails’ she says and so Valmont knows that he is doomed. In the film, she circles him as she reveals this to him and we are able to empathize with how manipulated Valmont must have felt. He is shocked and his mouth is open to signal that he has actually been outwitted by a woman.
The conclusion of this part of the story is the same for both mediums: vanity rarely brings happiness. This is indeed the main theme of the story itself and hints at the greater undoing of the characters that is to follow. The mirrors will shatter along with any semblance of control, bringing the characters to the end of their curves. Despite minor discrepancies, this message and the larger themes of the novel are more or less intact by the end of the film allowing us to see the characters in a whole new dimension.