Critic Reviews

• Stanley Kauffmann, The New Republic

  They have made the film function successfully almost as well as in the original setting.

• Kate Taylor, Globe and Mail

  Much of the cynicism, and thus the fun, of its many Western predecessors goes missing.

• Manohla Dargis, New York Times

  Schadenfreude carries a delectable tang no matter the language, and as the history of Hollywood shows, stories about pretty people behaving badly remain reliably alluring.

• Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times

  Zhang, expertly conveying someone closed off yet silently sensual, even rolls out a tear during a moment of impending intimacy as exquisitely timed as a dancer's move.

• G. Allen Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle

  Takes Pierre Choderlos de Laclos' 18th century source material to its most sumptuous silliness - I mean that as a compliment.

• Mark Jenkins, NPR

  This is a relatively shallow entertainment, but its glossy surfaces certainly are, well, seductive.

• CJ Johnson, ABC Radio (Australia)

  The cinematography is gorgeous, the costumes are gorgeous, the sets are gorgeous, and the people are so gorgeous it beggars belief. What can I say? Gorgeous.

• Shannon M. Houston, Paste Magazine

  This Shanghai Dangerous Liaisons proves that universal tales, when interpreted with care, can benefit from a little cross-cultural specificity.

• Daniel Eagan, Film Journal International

  Sexual intrigue brings heartbreak in an adaptation of the famous French novel, updated to 1930s Shanghai.

• Scott Tobias, AV Club

  It's all just window-dressing: pretty, but substance-free.

• Calum Marsh, Slant Magazine

  Shanghai in the 1930s seems an ideal context from which to offer social criticism, but Dangerous Liaisons forgoes engaging with the political dimension of its story altogether.

• Andrew L. Urban, Urban Cinefile

  This reset version from the original 18th century Paris to early 20th century Shanghai certainly looks fabulous, and the cast are all great. But maybe they're not quite the right cast for the characters

Read all 12 critic reviews