"I'm beginning to think you may have planned the whole exercise."
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Roles of high demand are usually the ones that are ripe for much talk and are largely split when it comes to opinions. Because the character is written so well, the actor (usually) gets to show what they are capable of as a serious dramatic performer. But, this can also lead to trouble if such a role was not handled correctly, or is just in the wrong hands. Dangerous Liaisons is a feast of high class, complex characters, and requires some heavy duty working among its cast of players, and with Ms. Pfeiffer on board as a major asset, one would be expecting something amazing. I stand amazed, but not in the conventional way whatsoever.
Dangerous Liaisons is a film that I liked more than I thought I would before viewing and although it has a total "studio film" feel to it, the overall feel never gets to stuffy or cloying - somehow maintaining modesty/ The film follows two snobby (ex-lover) aristocrats (Malkovich and Close, both superb) in 1760 France and how they get pleasure from toying with the (love) lives of others and scheme around to get the most fun out of it. The bet between Valmont and Merteuil involves Valmont setting his sights on Pfeiffer's Madame de Tourvel and seducing her but with written proof. However, Tourvel remains distant and closed off from Valmont's advances and finds the attention unrespectable and awkward. Mme Tourvel is a role that's brilliantly written with all sorts of complexities that would be fascinating when brought fully to life by an actress who would have a field day with what they have been given. Sadly, this is simply not the case with Pfeiffer's Tourvel at all.
This is a deeply complex woman who needed to be portrayed as such, but Michelle just never hooks onto that notion and ends up giving a cold, disconnected performance. Tourvel is a person who should be going through a journey of confusion, torment, love, and repressed feeling as she slowly begins to fall to Valmont and is constantly fighting with herself between what she wants and what is right. Yet Pfeiffer never provides the character with any genuine texture or emotional feeling, and not once did I see any kind of human beneath the beautiful but hollow shell of coldness. She never illuminates anything about Tourvel's conflict or inner life thats bubbling at the surface; I wanted to see the mysterious passion and desperation, and Pfeiffer never lets us in why she's so against being with Valmont. When Pfeiffer gets the chance to make something great or redeem herself she just can't, as her facial expressions are blank with bold frustration and complete lack of understanding. I was so shocked just how she continually plays the character on the same flat note the entire time, and how the director never picked up on it and just let in slide. In fact, Mme Tourvel felt less a character than a boring device used to project mere exterior beauty. This, in turn, seriously drags down the whole film, and its a truly a unfortunatley missed oppurtunity to create a vivid, rich, emotionally compelling human being. But with a total misreading of the character and little direction, Pfeiffer's performance becomes a muddled mess of contrived feeling and no understanding.
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