★★1/2 There must be one film adaptation per decade of Choderlos de Laclos’ extraordinary epistolary novel. And surely everyone remembers, especially the one that brought together John Malkovich, Glenn Close and Michelle Pfeiffer. Well, here the national owners of the subject, French, transfer everything to a world of bored teenagers with all kinds of social networks, something that Hollywood did (nobility obliges: before cell phones) with Cruel Intentions. The result is mediocre. Very. Above all because it moves away from the concept of “scandal” that was part of the society of the late eighteenth century in France and that Laclos used in a way that was both tragic and satirical. Here there is only the anecdote of a boy who seduces a girl for a bet, but even that lacks any real weight. Another example of how to grab something used out of the can to see if it still works.
