#Dangerous liaisons

[thevelvetgoldmine]

DANGEROUS LIAISONS (1988)

Costume Design by James Acheson

[catastrophicalcat]

Reasons Valmont Sucks (Catwoman 2018)

Valmont was a terrible character. And I really want to dissect why and how he is terrible - not just to get it off my chest and onto the collective Internet, but also because I think that Howard made some questionable writing choices that doomed him.

A quick intro - Valmont is Selina's love interest from the 1st two arcs of Tini Howard's Catwoman (2018) run. Inspired by some version of the Dangerous Liaisons character, he is a quasi French assassin who appears in Selina's life when she is trying to take on the Five Gotham Crime families, stalks her a bit, gifts her a stolen cat, fucks her, and eventually get murdered by her while he's trying to kill Batman. BatCat are on a poorly defined break during these events (with Bruce clearly thinking that they're somewhat committed to each other). Valmont is a dork. He looks like this:

More stuff under the break since I don't know how to write succinctly...

Valmont is a possessive stalker. It's obvious that Howard wanted to create a character who is different from Batman. Just look at him - Batman wears black, Valmont wears white. Batman strives to be a good person, while Valmont is an unrepentant murder. Bruce tries to be a gentlemen, while Valmont.... Almost immediately, Howard is in a pickle - how can she recreate a 17th century romance about assholes when, at the moment her run begin, Selina has no reason to be into this guy? And, this phony goth poser, by definition, cannot be upfront and just ask Selina out. Bruce would have done that. He's not Bruce. Solution? She gets rescued by him. A lot. Some examples:

While getting rescued frequently may be a way to fall in love, it makes Selina just so incompetent. Like I think that almost every single issue where Valmont appears, she needs to gets saved by him in some fashion. I don't think that Bruce rescued her that often, at least not in her own run! I went from reading about a savvy cat-burglar to an eternal damsel-in-distress.

Maybe I missed it, but I literally just read through all of his issues to find these screencaps, and I can't find any reason for him to be there other than to stalk her....

2. Making sexy French man is hard, OK! Prior to this run, I did not realize just how hard it is to write a sexy man instead of a creepy man. But seriously, this guy is GROSS, and Selina being into him makes her come off as dumb floozy. Who in the world would get turned on by lines like:

Maybe I'm fascinating, Catwoman. (Spoiler - he isn't)

I consider myself a citizen of the world. (Is he "my parents live in Ohio, I live in the moment" Ted Mosby?)

I wanted to help. But I did not want to chase you, or do what those boys had done. So I simply waited, where I knew you could find me. ("Those boys" - Tim & Dick, who tried to offer reasonable assistance and advice).

Fascinating? Interesting? Dangerous? (Describing himself.)

But I won't assume that just because a cat has sat in my lap once, it will do so whenever I call. (He then proceeds to bang her on the roof).

Have you ever had anyone encourage you to chase your desires? Just for your own pleasure? (Yeah, this is like a famous trait of hers...)

The sharp pleasure of waiting until I see you again is enough. (See, normal Selina - or a normal woman - would just never see him again).

Related to the above - their sexy times? Not sexy. First, they try and fail to hijack a cannibal's plane and parachute jump. Maybe adrenaline got their heart rate up, but still - poor planning! Second, and more egregiously: multiple characters comment on how Selina is deliriously tired. Valmont is one of those characters! He then bangs her on the roof. I don't want to kink-shame, but sleeping with someone when they're falling off their feet from exhaustion is like, not great?

3. He's a freaking murderer! This guy kills people and drops their bodies in the harbor. He's friends with Flamingo, a cannibal who tried to eat Robin (Damian, but still!). And yet, this is how Selina feels about him:

What happened? Really, what happened? Selina used to be smart and not boy crazy. Sure, she has a wide variety of unfortunate love interests despite these traits (post forthcoming!). But never has she fallen so fast, so quick, so off the deep end for someone who deserves it so very little.

I have other substantive issues with this run, but wanted to start by dissecting Valmont. A non-Bruce love interest is already an uphill battle in a Catwoman comic. Burdening him with all of these negative traits did not lead to a good story. Instead, Selina came off as stupid and immature for ever liking this guy in the first place.

I know that this post was super negative - these are just my thoughts, and I'm open to critique. If folks feel positive about Valmont, or other things I touched on here, I would be really interested to hear it.

[actressplaygroundxxx]

Uma Thurman (18) in Dangerous Liaisons (1988)

[lady-arryn]

DANGEROUS LIAISONS costumes appreciation: 15/15 (costume design by James Acheson)

[divineandmajesticinone]

Colette Dalal Tchantcho as Ondine de Valmont DANGEROUS LIAISONS (2022-) | 1.01 Love or War

[cosmonautroger]

René Magritte, Dangerous Liaisons, 1926

[shisasan]

John Malkovich and Uma Thurman on the set of Dangerous Liaisons, 1988.

[recycledmoviecostumes]

The beautiful yellow robe à la française with burgundy échelle designed by James Acheson is genuinely a work of art. Laura Benson initially wore it as Emilie in the 1988 film Dangerous Liaisons. Its intricate details and stunning color combination make it so memorable that it was immediately identifiable when it appeared a second time worn by Mira Sorvino as Marta in the 1994 film Barcelona. 

Costume Credit: carsNcors

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[wardengrill]

Glenn Close as Marquise de Merteuil in Dangerous Liaisons

[a-state-of-bliss]

Uma Thurman as Cecile De Volanges in Dangerous Liaisons (1988)

[thevelvetgoldmine]

DANGEROUS LIAISONS (1988) dir. Stephen Frears

[fuckyeahcostumedramas]

Colette Dalal Tchantcho as Ondine, Vicomtesse de Valmont in Dangerous Liaisons (TV Series, 2022).

[lady-arryn]

DANGEROUS LIAISONS costumes appreciation: 14/∞ (costume design by James Acheson)

[vintage-tigre]

John Malkovich offering Uma Thurman a cigarette on the set of "Dangerous Liaisons" (1988)

[la-femme-au-collier-vert]

Welcome back Vicomte de Valmont. Playboy who died for love (of a pure innocent soul…who wasn’t so innocent…sound familiar?)

[perioddramapolls]

Period dramas dresses tournament: Blue dresses Round 1- Group C: Caroline Penvenen, Poldark vs Isabelle de Merteuil, Dangerous liaisons (gifset)

Propaganda for Isabelle's dress (written by submitters):

This dress is a darker recreation of the famous dress worn by Madame de Pompadour in this portrait by François Boucher:

my god. this dress....this! dress! *incoherent screeching* THIS!!!!! DRESSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!