Valmont (1989) (Widescreen)

VALMONT is director Milos Forman's witty and playful adaptation of Choderlos de Laclos's famous novel LES LIAISONS DANGEREUSES, about the sexual machinations of two jaded 18th-century French aristocrats. In order to get revenge on the man who jilted her, the wicked Marquise de Merteuil (Annette Bening) persuades a former lover, the rakish Vicomte de Valmont (Colin Firth), to deflower the man's virginal young fiancée. Valmont agrees but presents the marquise with his own challenge: If he succeeds in seducing Madame de Tourvel (Meg Tilly), a virtuous young wife known for her unshakable fidelity, the marquise must grant Valmont a night in bed. The cold-blooded twosome proceeds gleefully with their heartless scheme until true love unexpectedly alters the course of events. Look for a great bathtub scene. The film was co-written artfully for the screen by Milos Forman and Jean-Claude Carriere and set like a gem in the visually emphatic Baroque period.