MovieChat Forums > Dangerous Liaisons (1989) Discussion > i didn't really get the ending....

i didn't really get the ending....

posted 9 years ago by shawnmichael15
15 replies | jump to latest

I don't really remember any of the character names in the movie so I'm just going to refer to them by the name of the actors who played them.

Ok so I get that John Malkovich was mad at Glenn Close for not .. banging him, and that she declared "war" when he gave her an ultimatum. He was going to expose her true character in the letter he wrote to Michelle Pfeiffer, and I'm assuming she convinced Keanu Reeves to turn against him? It looked like the fencing scene wasn't supposed to be a fight to the death, but just a friendly game.. And then Reeves accidentally fatally wounded Malkovich. But were they supposed to fight to the death? The movie skipped right to that scene without really setting up how they ended up in that situation. Also, are we really supposed to believe Michelle Pfieffer's character died from a broken heart? Or was there another more believable cause that I missed..

[–] kaskait 9 years ago

Merteuil (Close) took the Chevalier (Reeves) as her lover. She revealed to him Cecile's affair with Valmont (Malkovich) and her resulting miscarriage. Reeves was angered by this and challenged Valmont to a duel. Which in those times was always to the death. These duels were illegal and could lead to both of them being sent to prison plus being stripped of their titles.

During the duel Valmont finally realizes that he was truly in love with Tourval (Pfeiffer) and that he hurt her so much that she was dying of a broken heart (Yes, its possible if a person sinks so deep into depression they fail to thrive). He knew that he could never make it right so he committed suicide by tricking the Chevalier into attacking him. Either he supposed if he was gone, Tourval would be free of him and could recover OR he would die with her.

[–] jh66 9 years ago

For an 18th century woman, even one of means like Merteuil (Glenn), to be hounded out of society was living death - no invitations, no public outings, etc, so she would be snubbed if she did go out and possibly censored by both king and church.

She would be barred from court and possibly even excommunicated, which mattered even if you were a secular sinner. Only by leaving the country altogether (a good idea given that she was a French noble nearing ''the end of the century'') or entering a convent could she hope to have any peace. Her life is over.

[–] shawnmichael15 9 years ago

Thanks for the reply. The only thing I don't get is, is that aferr Keanu Reeves fatally wounded him, he looked concerned for him and even asked someone to call for help. If they were fighting to the death, wouldn't that be a good thing for him? And he could have ended him right there.

[–] jh66 9 years ago

He's a young man of honour and even though he played a seedy role in the 'game', he realises he's been betrayed and is perhaps also guilty?

[–] cynthiamf 9 years ago

I've seen this film many times but I've never questioned why Reeve's character yells to fetch the surgeon until your question.

There could be a couple of reasons why he called for the surgeon:
There might have been a protocol in place for duels where a doctor was called when someone was wounded. I'm not so much of an expert on duels in France in the 18th century so if someone is and they know, please confirm.
Or, it could be that Reeves was shocked that he fatally wounded Malkovich's as it happened unexpectedly so his first reaction was to call for the surgeon as Reeves probably didn't expect to kill him. In Reeves's eyes, they had been friends up until the point of Glenn Close's letter as Malkovich had helped deliver Reeves's love letters to Cecile so it is likely that he felt terrible about actually wounding Malkovich in the end. Seeing as Reeve's character was a very young man, he likely did not take into consideration the consequences of duelling and probably expected to die as Malkovich's character was older and more experienced than Reeves.

I've always viewed it as a natural thing that someone would call a doctor when a person was dying. This is why I've never questioned it.

I hope this helps.

[–] hafabee 8 years ago

I had always thought that generally duels were fought until "first blood". That is the first to score a strike against the other was declared the champion, and honour served. Of course many of these strikes would result in death, but death was not the qualifier to end the duel, a solid strike would do.

I looked it up and apparently only 20% of duels world-wide ended in death for the loser, but it appears as though France was the bloodiest of nations in the duelling tradition;

It was especially popular in France; 10,000 Frenchmen are thought to have died during a ten year period under Henry IV. The king issued an edict against the practice, and asked the nobles to submit their grievances to a tribunal of honor for redress instead. But dueling still continued, with 4,000 nobles losing their lives to the practice during the reign of Louis XIV.

- From "Man Knowledge: An Affair of Honor – The Duel".

So perhaps in France the notion of "first blood" was a secondary consideration, with the real aim being to outright slay your opponent.

As for Chevalier Danceny (Keanu's character) I thought that first and foremost him calling for a surgeon was a matter of honour. It was the honourable thing to do for a fallen opponent, after all you'd want your opponent to call for a doctor for you if you were the one who fell in battle.

[–] Trax-3 8 years ago

I had always thought that generally duels were fought until "first blood". That is the first to score a strike against the other was declared the champion, and honour served. Of course many of these strikes would result in death, but death was not the qualifier to end the duel, a solid strike would do.

Yes, death would only cause unnecessary complications for the winner, as it does in the novel, Danceny has to go into hiding, if I remember correctly.

[–] 8 years ago

[deleted]

[–] jbdjr64 8 years ago

excellent comments, thank you. helps my limited and
uneducated understanding.

[–] lrdcharlton 8 years ago

Some of the answers are lacking in facts and answers so I will explain. Basically, when Merteuil revealed that she had intentionally tricked Valmont into breaking Tourvels and that she wasn't going to keep her end of the bargain he gave her the ultimatum, she chose war. Because he had ruined her affair with Danceny as he was with Cecile, she revealed what went o n between Valmont and Cecile. Out of retaliation Danceny challenges Valmont to a duel, a duel that Valmont could easily win and should have won. He did not intentionally get himself killed, he was distracted with his feelings of guilt over what he did to Tourvel. Meanwhile, Tourvel has fallen ill with ......something, not necessarily a broken heart but her emotional state didn't help. Also,considering what treatment se was undergoing(blood letting), That could not have helped whatever ailment she had. Dancenys strike against Valmont was in no way accidental, what was the point of dueling if not to harm your opponent?

[–] phoebe723 8 years ago

Oh I think he intentionally got himself killed.

[–] claire280607 8 years ago

I agree, you see him drop his weapon on purpose and then turn and pretend to attack in order to be stabbed. He missed her so much (and knew he wouldn't be able to win her back) that he didn't want to live without her. I also think that's why he brought the letters, knowing that if it was his dying wish then they would be made public as this was his revenge against close for ruining their lives

[–] lrdcharlton 8 years ago

You can agree, just know it is not correct. At that point in duel he was not even paying attention to even consider intentionally lose the duel. Nothing in the scene suggested he let the other guy stab him. He was merely distracted by his thoughts

[–] prplayer 8 years ago

i agree that the ending wasn't really clear, it seemed like a couple of scenes were missing

i had to look up on Wikipedia to find out what happened

so many movies, so little time

[–] roreyking (606) 3 months ago

ROTFL!!! I just read the initial post for the first time & can’t believe what an idiot the OP is.