Les Liaisons Dangereuses 1960 [Dangerous Liaisons 1960] *** (1959, Jeanne Moreau, Gérard Philipe, Annette Stroyberg) – Classic Movie Review 7674

Director Roger Vadim’s 1959 French movie Les Liaisons Dangereuses 1960 [Dangerous Liaisons 1960] is based on Choderlos de Laclos’s novel and remade as Dangerous Liaisons, Valmont and Cruel Intentions.

Vadim’s version is a highly entertaining and richly enjoyable if moralistic film about a couple whose explicit games with sex and emotions lead to a disastrous end. Gérard Philipe and Jeanne Moreau are just right as the scheming 18th-century womaniser Vicomte de Valmont and his wife Juliette de Merteuil.

The cynical, sophisticated, open relationship couple come together to share their experiences of their various affairs, but then Valmont breaks their one rule and falls in love when he meets Marianne Tourvel (Annette Stroyberg [Annette Vadim]) at a ski resort.

Les Liaisons Dangereuses 1960 is excellent – the material is so strong that it never fails – while Vadim handles a sophisticated, sexy movie with flash and the necessary chilly sense of detachment. There is also a notable jazz score, with music by by Jack Murray, Thelonius Monk, Art Blakey and Duke Jordan.

Also in the cast are Jeanne Valérie, Simone Renant, Madeleine Lambert, Nicolas Vogel, Gillian Hills, Paquita Thomas and Jean-Louis Trintignant.

Les Liaisons Dangereuses 1960 [Dangerous Liaisons 1960] is directed by Roger Vadim, runs 107 minutes, is made by Les Films Marceau-Cocinor, is released by Astor Pictures Corporation (US) and Gala Film Distributors (UK), is written by Roger Vailland (screenplay, dialogue and adaptation), Roger Vadim (adaptation) and Claude Brûlé (adaptation), based on Choderlos de Laclos’s novel, is shot in black and white by Marcel Grignon, is produced by Léopold Schloberg, and is scored by Jack Murray, Thelonius Monk, Art Blakey and Duke Jordan.

Vadim was married to Stroyberg between 17 June 1958 and 14 March 1961. She was his second wife after Brigitte Bardot and before Jane Fonda.

It is the penultimate film of Gérard Philipe, who died of liver cancer at the peak of his stardom on 25 November 1959 in Paris, aged only 36.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7674

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