Dangerous Liaisons (2012 film)


Dangerous Liaisons is a 2012 Chinese film by Hur Jin-ho loosely based on the 1782 novel with the same title by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos. The novel has been adapted numerous times, including Les Liaisons dangereuses, an adaptation by Roger Vadim, the eponymous Hollywood film, Valmont, Cruel Intentions, and Untold Scandal from South Korea.
This version is set in 1930s Shanghai and stars South Korean actor Jang Dong-gun and Chinese actresses Zhang Ziyi and Cecilia Cheung.
The film screened in the Directors' Fortnight section at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival, and the 2012 Busan International Film Festival.

Plot

Shanghai, September 1931: Wealthy businessman and serial seducer Xie Yifan is introduced to his uncle's granddaughter, Du Fenyu, when his maternal grandmother, Du Ruixue, arrives at his apartment one day. Fenyu, a young widow who has just arrived from Northeast China where the Japanese are making incursions, is staying at the country home of Madam Du, her grand-aunt.
At a glitzy fund-raiser for refugees thrown by Hudong Bank chairwoman Mo Jieyu at Yifan's nightclub, Jieyu, an old friend of Yifan who has never succumbed to his advances, asks him to rob Beibei, the 16-year-old fiancée of tycoon Jin Zhihuan, of her virginity. Jieyu wants revenge on Jin, for publicly dumping her in favor of a schoolgirl. Yifan turns down Jieyu's request, partly because he has another quarry in his sights—the quiet and retiring Fenyu. Sensing an opportunity for some sport, Jieyu makes Yifan a wager: if he can seduce Fenyu without falling in love, she will finally agree to sleep with him; if he fails, he will sign over a valuable piece of land to her. Yifan accepts the challenge, but finds the virtuous Fenyu apparently immune to his charms.
Meanwhile, Jieyu employs a different strategy to get her revenge on Jin, encouraging an attraction between Beibei and her young drawing teacher, college student Dai Wenzhou. Despite Jieyu's strenuous efforts, the relationship is never consummated; but when she finds out about it, Beibei's mother, Mrs. Zhu, forbids her daughter to see Wenzhou anymore. With time running out, Jieyu suggests to Mrs. Zhu that Beibei should spend some quiet time at Madam Du's estate—and secretly arranges for Yifan to be there, to "comfort" Beibei. Mission finally accomplished, Yifan refocuses on seducing Fenyu, but finds himself in deeper emotional waters than he has ever experienced.

Cast