Starz's 'Dangerous Liaisons' TV Series is Full of Secrets
Starz is on a bit of a French history bender following The Serpent Queen, going from the Tudor and Elizabeathan era to its version of pre-revolutionary France in Dangerous Liaisons. Despite sharing a name with the famous 1988 film adaptation, Starz’s new eight-part series is actually a prequel to Pierre Choderlos de Laclos’s 1782's epistolary novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses. An international production filmed on location in Prague with a diverse and accomplished cast, the new show is directed by Leonora Lonsdale and Olly Blackburn, with scripts is written by Harriet Warner (Call the Midwife). It also stars two outstanding young Australian newcomers, Alice Englert as Camille, and Nicholas Denton as Pascal.
Laclos’s scandalous novel told the story of jaded bored aristocrats who set about seducing an innocent young woman. The Oscar winning 1988 film starred Glenn Close and John Malkovich. There was also ther lesser known 1989 movie Valmont, starring Annette Bening and Colin Firth. Both are tough acts to follow, so Starz’s version explores why Vicomte de Valmont and the Marquise de Merteuil do what they do so well, and who they really are. Were they born corrupt, and heartless? Well, they are French aristocrats. What would you expect? But when we meet the couple, they are young, pretty, and in love, and they’re far from being aristocrats.
