One of my all time favourite films is Dangerous Liaisons (1988), so it is no wonder that I would fall in love with Chéri (2009) considering it reunites three of the principal people involved with the former film – Stephen Frears directing, Christopher Hampton writing, and Michelle Pfeiffer taking centre stage. Both films are adaptations of famous novels – Les Liaisons Dangereuses by Choderlos de Laclos and Chéri and La Fin de Chéri by Colette – and both mark a script writing triumph for Christopher Hampton in adapting them so successfully for the screen, crackling as they do with brilliant humour and acerbic one liners. Both films are incredibly sumptuous and beautiful to look at, with elegant Art Nouveau sets and astonishing costumes recreating Belle Époque Paris in much the same way as Liasions recreated the ostentation of the Ancien Régime. And both films are very much concerned with seduction and sex and love, but the heart of Chéri is far less cold and cruel and wicked than its chillier counterpart. This film is much more about matters of the heart than the games played by the opposite sex.
Chéri is about a love affair between an aged courtesan, Léa de Lonval, and the wealthy son of one of her courtesan friends, Fred ‘Chéri’ Peloux. The two fall in love and spend six long happy years together until Chéri’s mother, Charlotte, arranges his marriage to a young girl of great fortune. At first both lovers seem reconciled to the fact – he must be married and she must relinquish him, but when he travels to Italy on his honeymoon and she flees to Biarritz where she embarks on a half-hearted affair with a young man, they both realise that they were in love and are now hopelessly miserable. When Chéri returns to Paris he finds Léa has gone, and leaves his wife and moves into a hotel refusing to go home. On hearing this, and suspecting a divorce, Léa quickly returns to Paris and the lovers reunite. They spend the night together, but alas the happy ending everyone wants does not come about and the denouement is heart wrenchingly sad. Funnily enough, the last scene of Léa looking sadly into the mirror on her vanity table echoes the final scene in Dangerous Liaisons as the Marquise de Merteuil looks into her oval mirror and takes off her ‘mask’ – there is the same bitterness and disappointment.
Chéri is a wonderful film, full of the most delightful period detail and a script that very much captures the spirit of Colette’s sharp dialogue and her authorial voice. The acting is really quite exceptional, especially Michelle Pfeiffer who really manages to portray nonchalance in attempt to cover up hurt and suffering by her lover’s actions, whilst at the same time not shying away from close ups that reveal a face which has been allowed to age naturally. Rupert Friend is perfect as the petulant Chéri – beautiful to look at and suffering from the greatest of French afflictions – ennui. Kathy Bates is hilarious as Chéri’s mother, a bawdy character full of mirth and raucous laughter. One of the delights of the film though is its score by Alexandre Desplat (who seems to be the composer of the hour having recently scored Twilight: New Moon, Coco Before Chanel, and Fantastic Mr. Fox) which references everything from Debussy to Gershwin to Cabaret music and jazz whilst at the same time still possessing a modern, almost electronic feel. Stephen Frear’s direction is brisk and restrained, so that the story doesn’t ever feel pondering or saggy. Although not the huge critical and commercial success of Dangerous Liaisons, Chéri is definitely worth a look as a rather delightful companion piece to its more successful sibling.
Official Website of Chéri
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