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Valmont
MGM // R // September 17, 2002
List Price: $19.98 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
When two films based on the same source material or the same basic concept are released at the same time, usually one of them ends up stealing all the glory. Valmont had the bad fortune to be filmed at the same time as Dangerous Liasons, and released only a year later; both are based on the 18th-century novel Les liasons dangereuses, but it's the latter film that garnered the publicity, the awards, and the lasting impression of being a top-notch movie. After watching Valmont, though, I would say that its relative obscurity is due less to its unfortunate timing than to the fact that it's just not a particularly good movie.
The storyline revolves around a handful of decadent French aristocrats and their love affairs: taking lovers, arranging marriages, and seducing the innocent are no more than entertainment for Madame de Mertuil (Annette Bening) and the Vicomte de Valmont (Colin Firth). Among their schemes are Mertuil's plan to destroy the innocence of a young girl in order to get revenge on a former lover, and Valmont's attempt to win a wager by seducing the incorruptible Madame de Tourvel (Meg Lilly).
But despite some potential for interest in the schemes that the two scoundrels are dreaming up (and acting on), the overall tone of the film is completely flat. There's no bite in any of the plots, no sense that anything important is at stake. The seduction of the "completely faithful" woman, Tourvel, is bland and lacking in psychological depth; there's no real sense that Valmont is challenging her or that the relationship is anything other than an ordinary liaison. The relationship between Mertuil and Valmont is hazy, so the motivation of each of those characters with respect to the other is lacking, especially their "war" later in the film. Bening in particular seems out of her league as Mertuil, a character that demands an older, more experienced-looking actress in the part. The only actor who shows any spark is Siân Phillips in a minor role as the sharp-tongued Madame de Volange; the others seem to be just playing dress-up in their period costumes, and not trying very hard to create real characters.
To give the film its due, Valmont does take the material of Les liasons dangereuses in a slightly different direction than Dangerous Liasons did. Valmont is distinctly lighter in tone, sometimes even comic, whereas Dangerous Liasons is deadly serious from start to finish. The lighter touch in itself could have worked out very well, if there'd been some substance to the film to back it up, but when all is said and done, Valmont doesn't offer anything of note to the viewer.
Rather shockingly, Valmont was directed by Milos Forman, the director of Amadeus. What can explain the difference between the amazing Amadeus and the limp Valmont? My theory is that a combination of an uninspired script and merely average actors helped drag Valmont down into mediocrity.
Video
The anamorphically-enhanced widescreen image is presented in its original 2.35:1 aspect ratio. There's some strong edge enhancement present, resulting in a definite loss of detail in an image that's none too sharp to begin with. Colors are erratic; outdoor scenes, particularly well-lit ones, have lively and reasonably accurate-looking colors. Dimly-lit indoor scenes, however, exhibit some problems with looking washed-out and having skin tones in particular turn grayish. One scene in particular was exceptionally dull, looking like a sepia-tinged black-and-white film. On the balance, Valmont is not bad-looking; in fact, video quality is the one area in which it surpasses its nemesis Dangerous Liasons, whose current DVD release is dreadful.
Audio
The Dolby 2.0 track is reasonably good. The party scenes could have used more of a surround effect, but dialogue is perfectly clear, and the sound overall is well-balanced and pleasant to the ear.
Extras
The only special feature on Valmont is a trailer.
Final thoughts
Valmont feels like a rough draft of Dangerous Liasons: the scenes sketched out, the costumes and sets prepared, a basic outline of the script and characters... and no depth. It's probably worth a rental to devotees of historical films, but not more than that.
The storyline revolves around a handful of decadent French aristocrats and their love affairs: taking lovers, arranging marriages, and seducing the innocent are no more than entertainment for Madame de Mertuil (Annette Bening) and the Vicomte de Valmont (Colin Firth). Among their schemes are Mertuil's plan to destroy the innocence of a young girl in order to get revenge on a former lover, and Valmont's attempt to win a wager by seducing the incorruptible Madame de Tourvel (Meg Lilly).
But despite some potential for interest in the schemes that the two scoundrels are dreaming up (and acting on), the overall tone of the film is completely flat. There's no bite in any of the plots, no sense that anything important is at stake. The seduction of the "completely faithful" woman, Tourvel, is bland and lacking in psychological depth; there's no real sense that Valmont is challenging her or that the relationship is anything other than an ordinary liaison. The relationship between Mertuil and Valmont is hazy, so the motivation of each of those characters with respect to the other is lacking, especially their "war" later in the film. Bening in particular seems out of her league as Mertuil, a character that demands an older, more experienced-looking actress in the part. The only actor who shows any spark is Siân Phillips in a minor role as the sharp-tongued Madame de Volange; the others seem to be just playing dress-up in their period costumes, and not trying very hard to create real characters.
To give the film its due, Valmont does take the material of Les liasons dangereuses in a slightly different direction than Dangerous Liasons did. Valmont is distinctly lighter in tone, sometimes even comic, whereas Dangerous Liasons is deadly serious from start to finish. The lighter touch in itself could have worked out very well, if there'd been some substance to the film to back it up, but when all is said and done, Valmont doesn't offer anything of note to the viewer.
Rather shockingly, Valmont was directed by Milos Forman, the director of Amadeus. What can explain the difference between the amazing Amadeus and the limp Valmont? My theory is that a combination of an uninspired script and merely average actors helped drag Valmont down into mediocrity.
Video
The anamorphically-enhanced widescreen image is presented in its original 2.35:1 aspect ratio. There's some strong edge enhancement present, resulting in a definite loss of detail in an image that's none too sharp to begin with. Colors are erratic; outdoor scenes, particularly well-lit ones, have lively and reasonably accurate-looking colors. Dimly-lit indoor scenes, however, exhibit some problems with looking washed-out and having skin tones in particular turn grayish. One scene in particular was exceptionally dull, looking like a sepia-tinged black-and-white film. On the balance, Valmont is not bad-looking; in fact, video quality is the one area in which it surpasses its nemesis Dangerous Liasons, whose current DVD release is dreadful.
Audio
The Dolby 2.0 track is reasonably good. The party scenes could have used more of a surround effect, but dialogue is perfectly clear, and the sound overall is well-balanced and pleasant to the ear.
Extras
The only special feature on Valmont is a trailer.
Final thoughts
Valmont feels like a rough draft of Dangerous Liasons: the scenes sketched out, the costumes and sets prepared, a basic outline of the script and characters... and no depth. It's probably worth a rental to devotees of historical films, but not more than that.
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