Dangerous Liaisons
Hur Jin Ho
The story: For the sport of it, suave lothario Xie Yifan (Jang Dong Gun) makes a bet with scheming businesswoman Mo Jieyu (Cecilia Cheung) that he can seduce the virtuous, widowed Du Fenyu (Zhang Ziyi). At the same time, the spurned Mo wants Xie to prey on the virginal Beibei (Wang Yijin) to take revenge on her former lover.

Sex, lies and betrayal. No wonder the 1782 French epistolary novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses keeps getting the movie treatment.
Notable adaptations include Stephen Frears’ Dangerous Liaisons (1988) with Glenn Close, John Malkovich and Michelle Pfeiffer; Milos Forman’s Valmont (1989) with Colin Firth and Annette Bening; and a modern-day teenage update Cruel Intentions (1999) with Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe and Reese Witherspoon.
Korean director Hur Jin Ho’s (One Fine Spring Day, 2001) version sets itself apart in two immediate ways by being a Mandarin feature and with the setting moved to 1930s Shanghai.
But the story remains familiar. Whatever Chinese writer Yan Geling added to the script, the focus of the story is still on the triangle of, in this case, Xie, Mo and Du.
The success of any interpretation depends on the trio. Close, Malkovich and Pfeiffer’s luminous performances made Frears’ take compelling. In comparison, the Asian cast fall short.
Korean A-lister Jang Dong Gun (My Way, 2011) gets the slick charm of Xie down pat. And there is a perpetual smirk that points to an arrogant smugness and unshakeable self-confidence. But he does not project silky menace the way Malkovich did, taking away the elements of danger and amorality, and weakening the impact of the tragedies that lie at the heart of Dangerous Liaisons.
It is a tragedy about Xie, who finds true love against the odds and is then tricked into renouncing it; about Mo, who unhappily turns into a hard and conniving woman in order to survive in a man’s world; and about Du, who gives in to passion and is punished for it.
Cheung (One Nite In Mongkok, 2004) fares a tad better than Jang though there is something a little too deliberate about her performance and there is not enough chemistry between the two conspirators.
After all, the prize at stake in their callous game of sexual conquest is no less than Mo herself.
It is Zhang (House Of Flying Daggers, 2004) who shines as a woman trying desperately not to fall for a cad and yet gives her all when she finally succumbs, literally shaking with love and desire. She is equally convincing as a virtuous widow holding onto the memory of her late husband, a woman made happy by love and, ultimately, a woman destroyed by love.
(ST)