You do wonder sometimes whether it is not a little too sweetly fetching for its own good. No one could have accused the Frears film of that.

| Aug 18, 2021

Valmont, then, proves a mixed blessing; a sumptuous treat for the eyes, a quiet disappointment for the mind.

| Aug 18, 2021

Colin Firth's Valmont is pleasant, a dreadful thing to say about one of literature's most magnetic seducers.

| Feb 9, 2015

Valmont is a superb piece of craftsmanship, impeccable in every detail from lighting to costuming, but as a work of art it remains tentative and blurred.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Feb 9, 2015

Milos Forman and Jean-Claude Carriere, while fiddling with the plot of this deliciously nasty tale, have studiously embalmed its spirit.

| Feb 9, 2015

The results are too pretty and well acted to be a total washout, but the fascination with evil and power that gives the novel intensity is virtually absent; what remains is mainly petty malice and mild cynicism.

| Feb 9, 2015

The anachronistic brio which distinguishes Forman's style is in pleasurable evidence, the approach to the subject is very much his own, and it's worth seeing if you forget all about the original.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 9, 2015

Because there are no characters animating his panorama, all this serves to prove is that though Forman's movie is broader than Frears', it is also shallower.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Feb 9, 2015

What keeps the film interesting, if not riveting, is the generally on target casting and resulting topnotch interpretations.

| May 20, 2008

It's a warm, energetic, humorous film, with some excellent ensemble playing; but the cruelty and psychological complexity are lost, and the ensuing tragedy has little resonance.

| Jan 26, 2006

Bad timing is the least of this film's problems.

Full Review | May 20, 2003

The film is rapturously beautiful, enticing us into a lush, aristocratic world.

| Jun 6, 2001

It's a naughty costume dramedy in which the erotic conquests of bored libertines are transformed into children's kissing games.

| Jan 1, 2000

The Frears version is cerebral and claustrophobic, an exercise in sexual mindplay. Forman's is more physical.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jan 1, 2000