Asia House Pan-Asia Film Festival review: Dangerous Liaisons
Dangerous Liaisons, a Chinese adaptation of the book starring Ziyi Zhang was screened at the Pan-Asia Film Festival
Asia House Pan-Asia Film Festival review: Dangerous Liaisons
25 February 2014
Set in Shanghai in the 1930s, a few years before the second Sino-Japanese War, this Chinese film is an adaptation of the French novel Dangerous Liaisons, a dramatic love story mingling passion, lust and betrayal.
The film cleverly plays with the audience’s allegiance, casting the protagonist as a ruthless womaniser, yet simultaneously revealing his compassionate character.
The plot follows the crude wager between playboy Xie Yifan and Mo Jieyu, the chairwoman of a bank. The bet is that if Yifan can seduce a young virtuous widow called Du Fenyu without falling in love, then Jieyu will succumb to his advances.
The movie follows Xie’s clichéd attempts at attracting Fenyu who is no fool to his games. Meanwhile Jieyu devises her own master plan of seeking revenge on her ex-husband.
The film is infused with sex and deception which keeps the viewer engaged and the main characters display selfishness, naivety and madness in a believable manner.
One of the most interesting aspects of the film is the way that chastity, filial piety and the importance of the social class system in China are touched upon.
However, the lavish lifestyle the characters follow and the dramatic love triangle they are in make the film seem, at times, like a pathetic tragedy that the rich in China faced, without portraying the events and concerns unravelling in the Republic of China at that time.
Title of film: Dangerous Liaisons (Wi-heom-han gyan-gye is the original title)
Directed by: South Korean director Jin-ho Hur
Released: China in 2012
Starring: Chinese superstar Zhang Ziyi (House of Flying Daggers and Memoirs of a Geisha) and South Korean actor Dong-Gun Jang
Running Time: 110 Minutes
Language in: Mandarin Chinese with English subtitles
Type of film: Romantic drama
Key selling point of film: The film has fantastic acting
Weakness
Unnecessary English in some scenes makes them rather awkward and forced.
Those familiar with the way in which dramatic romances often unfold can probably predict most of the film.
Plot summary
The plot follows the crude wager between playboy Xie Yifan and Mo Jieyu, the chairwoman of a bank. The bet is that if Yifan can seduce a young virtuous widow called Du Fenyu without falling in love, then Jieyu will succumb to his advances.
The UK premiere of this film was during the ASia House Pan-Asia Film Festival in London and the film was also screened at Leeds Hyde Park Picture House on 4 March.
For more information about the Asia House Pan-Asia Film Festival click here.
Omar Khan is currently doing an internship at Asia House.
