Dangerous Liaisons, a new romance drama on STARZ, promises to deliver. The show will act as a prequel to Pierre Choderlos de Laclos’s renowned novel, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, published in 1782. With the release of the first teaser, the network also revealed that the lustful romance will premiere on the platform on November 6, with further episodes airing weekly on Sundays. If you want to watch your shows online, new episodes will be available on the STARZ app every Sunday at midnight. The trailer takes viewers back to the 18th century and introduces them to key players including Camille (Alice Englert) and Valmont (Nicholas Denton).
The two of them rapidly develop a fiery intensity that fuels their rising passions. However, the love games between Camille and Valmont only get darker and more evil as she strives to rise in the social ranks after being offered a place to stay by the Marquise de Merteuil (Lesley Manville). Along with the teaser and the announcement of the release date, the production also released a number of images of the main characters dressed appropriately for the time period.
Camille’s best friend and ally Victoire (Kosar Ali) and noblewoman Jacqueline de Montrachet are shown throughout the images, as are the characters of Englert, Denton, and Manville (Carice Van Houten). There have been innumerable adaptations of Laclos’s classic story of trickery and seduction over the years. Dangerous Liaisons by Stephen Frears and Valmont by Milo Forman both came out in the same year. Featuring A-list actors like Glenn Close, John Malkovich, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Uma Thurman in Dangerous Liaisons and Colin Firth, Annette Bening, and Meg Tilly in Valmont, both films were faithful adaptations of their respective novels.
And who could forget the contemporary day take on the narrative in the 1999 classic Cruel Intentions, which launched the careers and romances of some of the top performers of the time, including Ryan Phillippe, and Reese Witherspoon, Sarah Michelle Gellar, and Selma Blair. When STARZ’s adaptation of the French novel debuts on the streaming service on November 6, it seems certain to deliver the necessary heat, drama, and seduction to prove that there can never be too many ways to tell a good tale.
Synopsis
The account of how the Marquise de Merteuil and the Vicomte de Valmont first met as young lovers in Paris on the brink of the revolution is the centrepiece of “Dangerous Liaisons,” a daring prologue to Laclos’ classic novel from the 18th century. This updated version of a famous tale takes readers on a roller coaster ride through pre-Revolutionary Paris, full of both awe and horror, glamour and squalor, temptation and deceit. Their existence rests on their abilities to seduce and manipulate the French nobles, as well as each other, as they are driven to right the wrongs of their past.
The notorious lovers are portrayed by Alice Englert and Nicholas Denton: Camille, who is taken in by the current Marquise de Merteuil (played by Lesley Manville), finds her own way in a world of men, and uses the power of secrets to regain control; and Valmont, who will stop at nothing to regain his recently-lost title. The central plot of the series revolves around their on-again, off-again romance. This is not love; it is war.