Dangerous Liaisons & Much Ado About Something

This article first ran in the Age on April 17, 2004

Apparently you make a Dangerous Liaison cocktail with equal parts Tia Maria & Cointreau, a splash of Sour mix, shake it with ice, then strain into a chilled glass. More famously, you could throw together Glenn Close, Uma Thurman, Michelle Pfeiffer and John Malkovich; more forgettably you could mix Sarah-Michelle Gellar and Ryan Philippe; and now you can sample Catherine Deneuve, Rupert Everett, Natasha Kinski and Leelee Sobieski.

This four-part version of Dangerous Liaisons (SBS, 7.30pm, Sunday nights) is based on Choderlos de Laclos' 1782 novel of seduction, betrayal and revenge. A cunning Madame de Merteuil (Deneuve) and a seductive Vicomte de Valmont (Everett) express their love for each other by seducing and abandoning others. Too controlling and fearful to truly love, they mock and destroy those who are can give themselves over to such emotions.

This adaptation is not set in the eighteenth century but the twentieth - and the recreation of 1960s St Tropez is both beautiful and appropriate. Such a transition certainly draws our attention to the timeless qualities of De Laclos' work. Everett and Denuevre are both compelling as the villains, though the elegant Denuevre is ultimately no match for the cold fury of Closes' memorable performance in 1988. Everett's edgy charm comes across as a misogyny and self-involvement that makes him perfect for his role. Natasha Kinski as Marie Tourvel is passive and flat - she's not a patch on Michelle Pfeiffer's passionate but repressed good woman done wrong. Leelee Sobieski is extraordinary as that sluttish virgin Cecile De Vollange.

It's not fair, perhaps, to compare this mini series to a movie made almost twenty years ago, but there is certain woodenness to this production that encourages a yearning for versions of yore. Dangerous Liaisons director, Jose Dayan, is best known for bringing the high-profile adaptations of the great French classics The Count of Monte Cristo, and Les Miserables to the small screen but something has gone wrong in this translation. That said, for those who loved the book or other versions of this story, watching it again does have many pleasures.

To fraudsters and intrigue of a different kind: did William Shakespeare write Shakespeare, and is that a question that an Australian independent filmmaker should even have the gall to ask?

Mike Rubbo has the gall in Much Ado Abut Something (8.30pm, Sunday, ABC) with results that are at first amusing, and then convincing. Rubbo's enthusiasm makes him seem slap dash, which throws many of the experts he interviews off kilter. Then his questions reveal the depth of his research. The catalyst for the documentary was a rare book The Murder of the Man who was Shakespeare by Calvin Hoffman. Hoffman puts forth the theory that Shakespeare's rival, Christopher Marlowe, was not killed in 1593, but instead fled to Italy to live in hiding. There he continued to write plays that were released in England under William Shakespeare's name. This - admittedly bizarre - argument is supported by the fact that Shakespeare appears to have had no formal education and have been best known as a businessman. Marlowe too had his secrets - he was a government spy. One thing is certain: the arguments for and against Shakespeare and Marlowe inspire as much passion and plotting among those who care, as all the sex in Dangerous Liaisons.

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