I thought I’d watch more episodes of The Seduction (2025), if for no other reason than HBO is letting me watch it IN French and with French subtitles, which is great for language learning. But I tried and just couldn’t keep my eyes open. This originally French miniseries is purporting to tell the prequel to the “Dangerous Liaisons” story, but seems to just have reset it so Merteuil is younger and jilted by Valmont; the rest of the story elements seem to play out mostly as is, with some additional orgies. So I skimmed episodes 3-6 looking for hopefully bad costume content! Sadly it continued to be lackluster even in that department, but here’s what I came up with.
Most shit fits okay, but the occasional thing doesn’t:
Lackluster hair:
More weird shit around the neck:
Diane Kruger enters her power shoulder era:
And accents with Christmas deco:
Dresses are mostly fine whatever:
Someone doesn’t understand spiral lacing:
THIS is Louis XV and his court (sad trombone):
And there’s shitty historical art!
If you want more than this, you’re going to have to saddle up yourself.
Have you made it through The Seduction? What’s your take?
Find this frock flick at:
These hairstyles are so much looking early 2000s to me. The idea maybe is, that it should be looking somehow cool for a certain type of audience. Poor Louis XV – what did he done to them?
Cheers,
This is giving me a headache. On a more positive note, I can’t wait to see what you’re cooking up for Snark Week! :)
Thanks for reminding me: the current state of politics demands Snark Week, the ultimate distraction.
Wow; this is spectacularly bad!
Not going to watch because the stills are making me grit my teeth. This is about as bad as the new(ish) Outlander stuff since Terry Dresbach stepped back from costume design. What’s the point? Heaven knows there are plenty of rental houses with fabulous costumes in Europe and they built these? Why build if it’s going to look like cr*p?
I think the shitty curtsey picture pretty much says it all about these series!
I’m confused as to how Cecile de Volanges is in this. Isn’t she the young woman that Valmont seduces in Les Liaisons Dangereuses? Why is she in the prequel? And didn’t Starz already try to do a prequel to the book?
She is and they did in 2022, only it was an English language version where Merteuil is a prostitute and Valmont is an impoverished mapmaker.
Cécile is supposed to be 15 during the novel so she either wouldn’t be born or she’d be a baby/toddler (if stretching the youngest Mertueil would be in the prequels and book, as she’s supposed to be between late 30s-early 40s in LLD).
This article (and possibly the whole series) was worth it purely for that image at the top of this article – la Belle Diane radiating “Come, my pet” energy and the dude wearing a little-boy-lost “Why must I be catnip to sophisticated older woman? Oh, why must I endure the riches, caresses and complete lack of fuss that comes when a grown woman knows her own mind and feels inclined to know me carnally? Why must this be my cross to bear?” expression.
The hair made me sad. I wanted to see excess! And it’s funny how there is an image of the painting “the Swing”, I think it is called, but nothing in the show felt anything like the painting.