SIR STEPHEN FREARS: Dangerous Liaisons (1988)
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Celebrated film and television director and producer Sir Stephen Frears is coming to the Electric Palace to support the cinema’s fund-raising project for a new projector and internal refurbishments with a screening of his award-winning production Dangerous Liaisons. He will also be taking part in a conversation and Q&A with writer and journalist Graham Boynton.
Sir Stephen made his movie directorial debut in 1971 with the neo-noir spoof Gumshoe, starring Albert Finney, Frank Finlay and Billie Whitelaw. He followed this with such noted titles as My Beautiful Laundrette, Prick Up Your Ears, The Grifters (produced by Martin Scorsese), The Queen, High Fidelity, Philomena and most recently The Lost King. My Beautiful Laundrette was included in the Top 50 all-time great British movies by the British Film Institute. His television work includes The Deal with Michael Sheen as Tony Blair, Quiz (also with Michael Sheen), A Very English Scandal with Hugh Grant as Jeremy Thorpe and episodes of the six-parter The Revenge with Kate Winslet and Grant again. He has recently completed the filming of Brian and Margaret for Channel 4, starring Steve Coogan as television journalist Brian Walden and Harriet Walter as Margaret Thatcher. He was knighted for services to film and television in 2023.
Graham Boynton was an editor and journalist with Conde Nast Traveler and Vanity Fair in New York and the Daily and Sunday Telegraph in London and has contributed to numerous publications including Newsweek in the US and The Spectator in the UK. His daughter is the actress Lucy Boynton, who recently graced the Electric Palace with a presentation of her early film Sing Street.
Dangerous Liaisons was nominated for seven Academy Awards. including Best Picture and Best Actress, winning three. The period romantic drama stars Glenn Close, John Malkovich and Michelle Pfeiffer, with a supporting cast including Uma Thurman, Peter Capaldi and Keanu Reeves. The screenplay was by Christopher Hampton based on his 1985 Olivier and Tony award-winning play, adapted from the classic novel by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos. Shot entirely on location in Northern France, it is a heady tale of jealousy, revenge and seduction with diabolic consequences.
Sir Stephen said: “When I read the script of Dangerous Liaisons, I thought I would like to spend the rest of my life seeing this film. No wonder a critic said it was like eating chocolate in bed.”
Graham Boynton said: “That Stephen Frears is one of Britain’s most celebrated film directors goes without saying – two Academy Award nominations, four Primetime Emmy Award nominations, a Golden Globe Award nomination and 17 BAFTA nominations including three wins. But he is also our most versatile, with a range of subjects from noir to high comedy to biography and historical drama that is unmatched in contemporary British cinema.”
All proceeds from the screening and Q&A go directly to the Harwich Electric Palace Trust #OurElectricPalace appeal.