among many movies based on the novel written by Choderlos de Laclos, the one made by 1988 is the best. it surpasses 'valmont' starred annette bening made one year later, and far better than the korean remake, not only because of its production design, but also the all-star cast, especially john malkovich who portraits the characters accurately (the personality of this character is somehow similar to ripley of 'the talented mr. ripley' and 'ripley's game', john starred in the latter). these elements come together make the whole story about politics convincible. an extreme opposite to 'the age of innocence'.