"Dangerous Liasons" by Shoderlos De Laclos through the Prism of Screen Projections

Background. To date, the number of screen versions of Choderlos de Laclos's novel "Les Liaisons Dangereuses" has reached almost twenty, contradicting its reputation as a work that is difficult to adapt. The primary goal of this study is to identify the factors that contributed to such a significant number of adaptations of this complex text. The analysis encompasses virtually the entire corpus of existing screen projections: eight feature films, two video films, one television movie, five miniseries, and one TV series, allowing for representative conclusions. Such a volume of material is introduced into scholarly discourse for the first time, as is the task of identifying the dominant vectors of the novel's remediation and outlining the resulting adaptation models. Methods. A synthesis of comparative-typological, intermedial, intertextual, and historical-cultural methods, incorporating approaches of textual, contextual, and stylistic analysis. Results.The study analyzes the semantic modifications of the novel in the process of remediation, primarily the reinterpretation of the main characters. Particular attention is paid to the "woman question", which remains relevant to Laclos's work. The key adaptation models of "Les Liaisons Dangereuses" are identified: the independent film versions by R. Vadim (1959), С. Barma (1980), S. Frears (1988), and M. Forman (1989), as well as the Kumble model (1999) based on Frears's film. A system of screen projections for Laclos’s novel has been established: the role of the prototext shifts from the literary original through C. Hampton’s play to S. Frears’s film, which served as the foundation for several full-length features. Simultaneously, a youth cluster of adaptations emerged based on this model, initiated by R. Kumble’s Cruel Intentions, which continues to develop primarily within popular culture. Television projects distanced from the youth segment are examined separately; they do not follow a single model but rather synthesize various intertexts. Additionally, а new adaptation model, formed in the television miniseries of 2022 and 2025, has been identified and characterized. Conclusions. A significant reason for the quantitative growth of screen projections of Laclos's novel is the functioning of adaptation models that either displace the literary source or exist in parallel with it, forming an extensive system of intertextual connections

Crime and Detective Fiction Studies · Narrative Theory and Analysis · Shakespeare, Adaptation, and Literary Criticism

• De la lettre à l'écran

  Brigitte E Humbert•De la lettre à l'écran•2000

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