She demystifies the French way of life in an entertaining and personal narrative that carries us from the neighborhood shops of Paris to the halls of government, from the gardens of Versailles to the agricultural heartland.

In La Seduction, Sciolino gives us an inside view of how seduction works in all areas, analyzing its limits as well as its power. While sexual repartee and conquest remain at the heart of seduction, for the French seduction has become a philosophy of life, even an ideology, that can confuse outsiders. Seduction plays a crucial role in how the French relate to one another-not just in romantic relationships but also in how they conduct business, enjoy food and drink, define style, engage in intellectual debate, elect politicians, and project power around the world. But Elaine Sciolino, the longtime Paris bureau chief of The New York Times, has discovered that seduction is much more than a game to the French: it is the key to understanding France. But it gradually gains in intensity, and by the time the play reaches its chilling conclusion she is thoroughly convincing.The hidden truth about the French way of life: it's all about seduction-its rules, its pleasures, its secretsįrance is a seductive country, seductive in its elegance, its beauty, its sensual pleasures, and its joie de vivre. The fresh-faced, sweet-voiced Linney wouldn’t seem an ideal choice for the scheming Merteuil, and indeed her performance has a forced air at times. de Tourvel (Jessica Collins), finishes off his prey while repeatedly uttering the phrase, “It’s beyond my control.” The idea is most chillingly conveyed in a scene late in the play when Valmont, who has made a Faustian bargain with the Marquise to seduce and then abandon the righteous and trusting Mme.

In this play, which is best known for its 1988 film adaptation “Dangerous Liaisons,” sex is not so much about passion as it is about power and manipulation.

Although this version doesn’t quite compare to the brilliant original Royal Shakespeare Company production headlined by Alan Rickman and Lindsay Duncan, it nonetheless effectively conveys the necessary dangerous air of sensual menace surrounding the machinations of its lead characters, the scheming Marquise de Merteuil (Linney) and the Don Juan-like seducer, Le Vicomte de Valmont (Daniels).

French Seduction by Laura Hault