365 Days. 365 Films.

Dangerous Liaisons is a period drama with a twist. Glenn Close and John Malkovich play aristocrats, bored with their mundane every day lives and so they begin to cause mischief with others’ love lives. Playing around with passion and betrayal they plot to seduce and ruin the lives of those who hurt them.

It’s sexy, edgy and everything you wouldn’t expect from a film within its genre but it plays out with such ease and disregard for convention and controversy. Glenn Close is absolutely amazing playing the cold-hearted and vicious Isabelle, but John Malkovich is equally stunning in his role as Sebastian – similarly cold and callous but obliging all of Isabelle’s needs with an endearing but sinister quality.

Stephen Frears can apparently not make a bad film – his film making far surpasses the levels of what I would normally expect from a ‘conventional’ director, in that his techniques are often very subtle (i.e. not in the style of Edgar Wright or Baz Luhrmann who seem to favour the more visually stunning techniques – and to great effect!). Frears has the capacity to capture his audience to the point of no return and even though his technical applications are subtle, he executes them well with the slightest hint of genius – perfect for a film of this caliber.