Valmont (1989)

Valmont: Directed by Milos Forman. With Colin Firth, Annette Bening, Meg Tilly, Fairuza Balk. France before 1789: When a widow hears that her lover is to marry her cousin’s daughter, she asks the playboy Valmont to take the girl’s virginity. But first she bets him, with her body as prize, to seduce a virtuous, young, married woman.

“I notice a bit of a war going on between partisans of this and u0026quot;Dangerous Liaisonsu0026quot; (the Glenn Close/John Malkovich/Stephen Frears vehicle). Iu0026#39;m not entirely sure why, but I find u0026quot;Valmontu0026quot; so much better. I think itu0026#39;s because: A) Milos Forman is unquestionably a better director than Frears, especially when he can call on the photographic talents of a cinematographer like Miroslav Ondricek; B) u0026quot;Valmontu0026quot; takes the time to develop some of the relationships between characters on screen, while the other simply injects the viewers into preexisting relationships; C) Colin Firth and Annette Benning are quite simply sexier than Glenn Close and John Malkovich; u0026quot;Dangerous Liaisonsu0026quot; is too intellectual, while u0026quot;Valmontu0026quot; works at the hormonal level too. D) Fairuza Balk is far more believable as a virgin than Uma Thurman (can anyone say differently?!?). I certainly acknowledge u0026quot;Dangerous Liaisonsu0026quot; as a well-made, well-acted film, but in the end I find it nearly unwatchable compared to u0026quot;Valmontu0026quot;, which I can (and have) enjoyed over and over.”