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Dangerous Liaisons (1988)
Chéri (2009)

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Christopher Hampton interview

As well as writing plays (‘Tales From Hollywood’) and directing the odd film (‘Carrington’), Christopher Hampton is a consummate translator and adapter of novels. Twenty years after reworking ‘Dangerous Liaisons’, starring Michelle Pfeiffer, for Stephen Frears, he talks about getting that dream team back together for ‘Chéri', which opens May 8 2009.

Colette’s novel, about the relationship between an ageing courtesan and her young lover, is set before WWI. It’s not an era we know well. Is that why you felt the need for a voiceover?
‘We devised a voiceover that explains the Belle Epoque and who these courtesans were. Some of them made a colossal amount of money: there’s an enormous £10 million palazzo on the corner of the Champs Elysées which one of them was given for spending the weekend with some German.’

To me, the film feels more nostalgic than the book.
‘She was a hard-headed old bird, Colette: she couldn’t afford to be sentimental, the life she led. Her father was a retired naval officer with literary pretensions who knew this debauched walrus called Willy, who turned up when Colette was about 16 and said “Can I have her?” He made her write the Claudine books then put them out under his own name. She emancipated herself, let him keep all the money, and made a living appearing naked in tableaux vivants that toured France.’

It's been 20 years since you, Stephen Frears and Michelle Pfeiffer last worked together. Why so long?
‘I don’t know. Stephen and I manage to work together once every decade. We did a television play in the 1970s, then “Liaisons” in the ’80s and “Mary Reilly” in the ’90s. We like doing stuff about women, evidently.’

There are other strong similarities between ‘Liaisons’ and ‘Chéri’: both opulent, sexy, intensely bitchy stories in settings of extreme decadence…
‘They are both worlds where excess has come to be taken for granted and which therefore can’t go on, whether because of the French Revolution or WWI. Which, of course, is relevant because last year we could have said the same of Britain: that it was on a self-deluding spree about to come to an abrupt end.’

Do you think Britain is ready for a film about growing old?
‘We’ll see. We had a wonderful time with the cameraman, Darius Khondji. He’s a genius, but he couldn’t get it into his head that we were trying to make Michelle look aged.’

It’s an amazing thing for her to do. She still looks wonderful – but people are always going to be adding that ‘still’ in a film like this.
‘I think it was very difficult for her. It took it out of all of us. Stephen said to me that he thought it was the hardest film he has ever done, trying to maintain that balance between the book’s lightness of tone and the underlying tragic elements. It’s a grown-up love story, of which there are not many. I don’t think I’ve ever done so many rewrites. Most of the effort went into making it look effortless.’

As a director, did you ever want Stephen to do something differently?
‘No. The films that I want to direct are always very particular and small-scale. I’d rather Stephen directed “Chéri”. But I find directing easier than writing.’

Why don’t you direct more and write less, then – or do you like hard work?
‘I do, actually. It’s a peculiar trait but I have always liked challenges. They said I couldn’t adapt “Liaisons” because the two main characters never meet. Then my instinct is to find a way of doing it.’

Do you ever wish you had stuck to just one area of expertise?
‘I had the conversation with my agent after my first proper success, “The Philanthropist”. She said “You’ve got a choice: you can write the same play over and over for the next 30 years, and you’ll probably get even better at it, or you can decide to do something completely different every time.” So I said “As a matter of fact, I have started writing a play about the extermination of the Brazilian Indians in the 1960s.” And she said “Well, that’ll do it, dear.” ’

I suppose some people who think they’re writing something different are actually writing the same thing over and over.
'Yes, that definitely happens. When I worked for David Lean he talked about how all his films were very different and I thought: Really? I think my stuff is, though. It does mean you don’t have an instant identity, but I don’t mind that.’

Author: Nina Caplan

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nikos said...

Diana, I'm so glad it was you after all. I'll be sending you a letter soon, so we can keep in touch; let's not use this space anymore! Bye for now, Nikos Posted on Aug 28 2009 18:58

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diana said...

recorrecting syntax on both replies... better and nottingham once strike the second one i didn't type it in I'm more meticulous than that... ! diana Posted on Aug 27 2009 21:51

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diana docherty said...

dear nikos yes probably more than a decade ago, i am shall i say surviving but it is lovely of you to remember me and to ask...gosh i do have a friend, and possibly a true one at that if you know what i mean ! i could write a cathy come home about social sevices, torture and being isolated from networking thru being called like byron either mad or bad with a well set up by set ups backstory to fit all of which should be recinded but it would never be accepted because it wouldnt be funded ! so,i play the game and milk the system until something better comes my way...revenge is a soup best served cold or is it called just called going with the flow...but that is a long story and anyway its too much navel watching, so i move on swiftly suffice it to say if i'd been in a certain film i'd have rewritten the script to allow for a sequel where the victim left is bitten and then becomes the new female jeckyll and miss hyde...must be the influence of Edinburgh where i am currently , and oddly enough writing in the elephant cafe...where jk Rowling wrote! cheers Diana and godbless and anyway words are not enough if you know what i mean...richer than gold is the love of my lord, beter than splendour and wealth... diana x Posted on Aug 26 2009 20:23

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diana docherty said...

yes I am that person you met in nottingham. I also had interesting ideas as to the music for the film if one can update romeo and juliette as baz did in his excellent reworking of shakespeare i though that two of amy winehouse songs would have gone rather well back to black and oh what is the other one... its either before it or after it on the album back to black ... just an idea, regards to the director and to yourself... are you going to embark on a stage play if so maybe amy winehouse's songs with perhaps a few new andrew lloyd webbers compositions could make a west end musical -play type hit ???? plus some classical music of course. cheers diana, ps my email may not work i tend to have problems with it bouncing back. but i live at 5 gresley drive nottingham, nottingham, sneinton, ng2 3gf so i can be reached there for any more networking. cheers diana x Posted on Aug 26 2009 20:01

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Nikos said...

To the person who wrote the above comment:
Your writing and stated interests remind me strongly of someone by your name I met many years ago (a decade to be exact). Obviously, this is not the place for this sort of communication--but if (and that's a big if) you are the Diana Docherty I met in Nottingham, my first name may be familiar to you. I'm in another country now, but I'd be glad merely to know how you are.
If I am right, and should you come across this reply to your message, could you simply write a brief comment (to the effect that indeed you are that Diana Docherty)?
My apologies to the Time Out people; I juat came across this comment by chance and it all looked familiar--both the writing and the name, so I could not resist replying, Posted on Aug 08 2009 22:08

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Diana Docherty said...

I think that Cheri is a bit like the Great Gatsby with Robert Redford in it also the book, its of a time where the bubble of the great dream is about to burst and it does, its also about wisdom, the idealism of an envisioned relationship and the tragic realisation that relationships evolve some times at different rates, the autumn of youth and yet the immortality of wisdom. its also about seizing the day, like straining the credit card before the credit crunch hits ! comment by Diana Docherty available for scriptdoctoring and for acting , or is that an illusion ? ha ha Posted on Apr 30 2009 18:22

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