McTeer is luminous and sharp, playing her marquise coolly indeed but with an inner fire burning. 'I was born to dominate your sex and avenge my own,' she tells Valmont. McTeer reveals her vulnerability only late, and to devastating effect. Schreiber, for his part, isn't reptilian or overly lascivious. His Valmont is idly amused and relaxed - even drunkenly indifferent - until he pounces like a shark, a true seduction machine. Schreiber seems so relaxed that during one preview scene in which he lounges on a coach, he expertly tossed two playing cards back-to-back into an urn on the floor.