Lust, betrayal and duplicity are a universal language. “But I thought through children she might live a happier life.Ģ. Becoming a teacher in the refugee provinces means there is still a little bit of hope,” he says, “even though the ending itself might not be happy. “So I thought about the happier ending and spoke to them about it. Article contentĭirector Hur Jin-Ho says that in his adaptation, he wanted her to be a little warmer. Still, the severity and the lascivious quality of this affair-driven drama (as it has previously been performed) is sorely missed.This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Such an issue might even be attributed to the cultural translation of sorts that necessarily took place. While previous iterations of these characters were beautiful, vicious and detached, gun-Jang and Cheung never fully manifest that ruthless, snake-like quality. Still, this adaptation is a far less frightening version than the Dangerous Liaisons of Close and Malkovich compared even to Sarah Michelle Gellar and Ryan Phillippe in Cruel Intentions, the villains in this year’s Dangerous Liaisons are practically genteel.
The political climate of 1930s China is also a factor, and the director seamlessly weaves tension with the Japanese into the many love triangles and quadrangles that make up the film. It’s difficult to go wrong with a plot like this-so much of the dramatic tension is already right there in the storyline, and the cast members deliver strong performances that sustain the tension throughout. Xie and Mo team up against the girl (and her true love), wreaking havoc and vengeance all over Shanghai. Along the way, they entangle themselves with the young, virgin Beibei (Candy Wang), who is betrothed to another former lover of Mo’s. The story follows the two former lovers (Xie and Mo) as they play with and against each other, fighting for the right to claim a seemingly imaginary title of “greatest seducer” or seductress. Ziyi Zhang ( Memoirs of a Geisha) plays the young, chaste widow who becomes a pawn in the high-stakes game between Xie Yifan and Mo Jieyu (played smartly by Cecilia Cheung).
The plot of Dangerous Liaisons remains unchanged, with Dong gun-Jang playing Xie Yifan, a wealthy businessman with a reputation for his insatiable sexual appetite. Audiences will be pleased with a new take on one of the greatest tales of love, seduction and revenge among “friends.” This year’s Dangerous Liaisons branches in major ways, most obviously in its 1930s China setting, and although one cannot help but compare it to Stephen Frears’ (essentially incomparable) 1988 film starring Glenn Close and John Malkovich, Jin-ho Hur’s Dangerous Liaisons brings a welcome addition to the collection of adaptations of the French classic novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses by Choderlos de Laclos. The new piece must evoke the memory and energy of the original, even as it branches out and liberates itself, creating a new and distinctive work of art. Adaptations of classic stories like Dangerous Liaisons are always difficult, paradoxical even.
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