How HBO Max’s Seduction, inspired by Dangerous Liaisons, offers a female perspective
The French drama Seduction follows Marquise de Merteuil, the character from the 1988 movie Dangerous Liaisons made famous by Glenn Close
“Welcome to the delicious hell that is high society,” beckons the trailer for The Seduction, HBO Max’s steamy new French-language drama inspired by Dangerous Liaisons.
When most of us last saw the Marquise Isabelle de Merteuil, she was in her own private hell, wiping white powder off her tear-stained face. This 18th-century Parisian socialite, memorably played by Glenn Close in the 1988 Stephen Frears movie, was ruined every which way – schemes exposed, reputation in tatters, shamed and booed at the opera.
Well, The Seduction has something to say about her story – or at least, her backstory.
The latest adaptation of the 1782 epistolary novel Les Liaisons dangereuses by Choderlos de Laclos is somewhere between a prequel and a remake, retaining much of the main story but taking a radical detour into the female gaze.
In other words, “it’s the #MeToo of the 18th century”, says director Jessica Palud about the six-episode miniseries.
So how does one make a #MeToo version of a society where men had all the power – and the swords, too?