'Dangerous Liaisons' Review: The Epistolary Novel as Instagram Feed

Movies|‘Dangerous Liaisons’ Review: The Epistolary Novel as Instagram Feedhttps://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/08/movies/dangerous-liaisons-review.htmlA new film adaptation brings Pierre Choderlos de Laclos’s 1782 book to the halls of a high school in modern-day France.Paola Locatelli and Simon Rérolle in “Dangerous Liaisons.”Credit…Thomas Canel/NetflixJuly 8, 2022, 3:00 a.m. ETDangerous LiaisonsDirected by Rachel SuissaDrama, Romance1h 49mFirst published in 1782, Pierre Choderlos de Laclos’s wicked romp of a novel, “Dangerous Liaisons,” requires only a light airbrush to be convincingly transplanted to the halls of a modern-day high school where teenagers wield sex, power and status like weapons. Nevertheless, the director Rachel Suissa runs Laclos’s story through a heavy Instagram filter in this outlandish, flimsy adaptation.Tristan (Simon Rérolle) and Vanessa (Ella Pellegrini) are a clout-seeking power couple at Victor Hugo High School in Biarritz, a coastal town in Southern France. He’s a rapper and a champion surfer; she’s a fading child star. Together, these performative lovebirds share 10 million social media followers — and a pact to seduce and destroy a new student, Célène (Paola Locatelli), a tech celibate who lords her Luddite superiority over her shallow classmates by bringing a Proust hardback to a pool party. Not that they care. “You can be noble or rich and still be…
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