I like "costume dramas." I originally saw this on the stage in London and actually fell asleep at it! Well, the theatre was really hot, but that was no excuse. However, this film is one I can watch over and over. The love/hate...
[+] Read Full Review

I like "costume dramas." I originally saw this on the stage in London and actually fell asleep at it! Well, the theatre was really hot, but that was no excuse. However, this film is one I can watch over and over. The love/hate relationship between Marquise de Merteuil (Glenn Close) and Vicomte de Valmont (John Malkovich) drives their behavior and causes them to seek to ruin the lives of others, whom they use as their playthings. It's like a big chess game they play to amuse the other person by showing how evil they can be. Malkovich is great in this and it may be the first film that showed me what a great actor he can be. His character evolves over the course of the film, while the Marquise doesn't and this is what eventually destroys both of them. There is enough comedy sprinkled in here to lighten things up (just about any scene with Uma Thurman's character) but overall it's quite serious drama.