National Theatre Live: Les Liaisons Dangereuses(2026)
The pen is mightier than the sword.
BAFTA Award-winner Lesley Manville (Phantom Thread) joins Aidan Turner (Rivals) in a striking new staging of Christopher Hampton’s celebrated adaptation of the classic novel, where among the glittering salons of the super-rich, one misstep can mean ruin. Marquise de Merteuil is a master in the art of survival. Alongside the magnetic Vicomte de Valmont, they turn seduction into strategy and weaponise desire. But when their alliance collapses into rivalry, the battle between them threatens to destroy everyone in their path. Filmed live on stage at the National Theatre, Marianne Elliott (Angels in America) directs this thrilling game of love, lies, and social warfare.
Movie: National Theatre Live: Les Liaisons Dangereuses
Top 10 Billed Cast
Vicomte de Valmont
Marquise de Merteuil
Madame de Tourvel
Chevalier Danceny
Madame de Volanges
Cécile Volanges
Major-Domo / Dancer
Madame de Rosemonde
Julie / Understudy Madame de Tourvel
Azolan / Understudy Vicomte de Valmont
Video Trailer National Theatre Live: Les Liaisons Dangereuses
Recommendations Movies
Mr Malcolm's List(en)
When she fails to meet an item on his list of requirements for a bride, Julia Thistlewaite is jilted by London’s most eligible bachelor, Mr. Malcolm. Feeling humiliated and determined to exact revenge, she convinces her friend Selina Dalton to play the role of his ideal match. Soon, Mr. Malcolm wonders whether he’s found the perfect woman...or the perfect hoax.
Jane Eyre(en)
After a bleak childhood, Jane Eyre goes out into the world to become a governess. As she lives happily in her new position at Thornfield Hall, she meets the dark, cold, and abrupt master of the house, Edward Rochester. Jane and her employer grow close in friendship and she soon finds herself falling in love with him. Happiness seems to have found Jane at last, but could Rochester's terrible secret be about to destroy it forever?
Northanger Abbey(en)
A young woman's penchant for sensational Gothic novels leads to misunderstandings in the matters of the heart.
Cyrano(en)
A man ahead of his time, Cyrano de Bergerac dazzles whether with ferocious wordplay at a verbal joust or with brilliant swordplay in a duel. But, convinced that his appearance renders him unworthy of the love of a devoted friend, the luminous Roxanne, Cyrano has yet to declare his feelings for her—and Roxanne has fallen in love, at first sight, with Christian.
College(en)
A bookish college student dismissive of athletics is compelled to try out sports to win the affection of the girl he loves.
Not Easily Broken(en)
A car accident and shifting affections test the bond between a married couple.
Madame(en)
Anne and Bob, a well-to-do American couple, have just moved to a beautiful manor house in romantic Paris. To impress their sophisticated friends, they decide to host a lavish dinner party, but must disguise their maid as a noblewoman to even out the number of guests. When the maid runs off with a wealthy guest, Anne must chase her around Paris to thwart the joyous and unexpected love affair.
Let's Make Love(en)
When billionaire Jean-Marc Clement learns that he is to be satirized in an off-Broadway revue, he passes himself off as an actor playing him in order to get closer to the beautiful star of the show, Amanda Dell.
The Best You Can(en)
Cynthia Rand is a buttoned-up New Yorker married to a brilliant professor 25 years her senior. She begins feeling the effects of her husband’s advancing age on their relationship, just as her world is turned upside down by the arrival of sharp but chronically underachieving security guard Stan Olszewski in this smart rom-com that reunites Bacon and Sedgwick on screen for the first time in 20 years.
Author! Author!(en)
A broadway playwright is burning the candle at both ends. He is dealing with pressure from a production nearing premiere, a wife who is leaving him, and 5 children 4 of which belong to her.
You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger(en)
Two married couples find only trouble and heartache as their complicated lives unfold. After 40 years of marriage, Alfie leaves his wife to pursue what he thinks is happiness with a call girl. His wife, Helena, reeling from abandonment, decides to follow the advice of a psychic. Sally, the daughter of Alfie and Helena, is unhappy in her marriage and develops a crush on her boss, while her husband, Roy, falls for a woman engaged to be married.
(Untitled)(en)
A fashionable contemporary art gallerist in Chelsea, New York falls for a brooding new music composer in this comic satire of the state of contemporary art.
Enemies, a Love Story(en)
A ghostwriter finds himself romantically involved with his current wife, a married woman and his long-vanished wife.
Strictly Sexual(en)
Two successful women, sick and tired of dating and relationships, decide to keep two young men in their pool house for strictly sexual purposes.
He Said, She Said(en)
Womanising, right-wing Dan Hanson and quiet, liberal Lorie Bryer work for the Baltimore Sun. Rivals for the job of new writer of a vacant column, the paper ends up instead printing their very different opinions alongside each other, which leads to a similarly combative local TV show. At the same time their initial indifference to each other looks like it may evolve into something more romantic.
Delirious(en)
Les, a small-time celebrity photographer desperate to make it big, befriends Toby, a homeless young man with no direction except a vague desire to become an actor. When by chance, Toby becomes romantically involved with K'Harma Leeds, the hottest pop star of the moment, Les grows jealous and plots revenge.
The Elder Son(en)
A thief on the run convinces a single father that he is his long-lost son. Complications ensue when he falls in love with his newfound "sister".
Rosaline(en)
Left heartbroken after Romeo begins to pursue her cousin Juliet, Rosaline schemes to foil the famous romance and win back her guy in this comedic twist of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.
Similar Movies
Rocky Horror Tribute Show(en)
Recorded at London's Royal Court Theatre before an audience of faithful fans, various cast members from different productions of The Rocky Horror Show come together in a one-off concert extravaganza paying tribute to the phenomenon.
National Theatre Live: Romeo and Juliet(en)
An adaptation of Shakespeare's tragedy set in modern-day Italy where two young lovers strive to transcend a violent world where Catholic and secular values clash.
True West(en)
A screenwriter gets conned out of selling a script to a Hollywood producer by his brother, who pitches his own idea for a movie. This video recording of the 1982 Steppenwolf Theatre Company production was later broadcast by PBS.
The Fourposter(en)
The story takes place entirely in a bedroom dominated by a couple's four-poster bed, taking them through fifty years of marriage, through happiness and sorrow, through good times and bad, through childbirth, parenthood, and the eventual sadness from the absence of their children. In the end, they face the future together, while remembering their past.
National Theatre Live: Othello(en)
The Moorish general Othello is manipulated into thinking that his new wife Desdemona has been carrying on an affair with his lieutenant Michael Cassio when in reality it is all part of the scheme of a bitter ensign named Iago.
National Theatre Live: People(en)
People spoil things; there are so many of them and the last thing one wants is them traipsing through one’s house. But with the park a jungle and a bath on the billiard table, what is one to do? Dorothy wonders if an attic sale could be a solution.
National Theatre Live: The Magistrate(en)
Academy Award nominee and Tony Award-winner John Lithgow (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Shrek, 3rd Rock from the Sun) takes the title role in Arthur Wing Pinero’s uproarious Victorian farce, directed by Olivier Award-winner Timothy Sheader (Crazy for You and Into the Woods, Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, London). In a similar vein to the National Theatre’s smash-hit classic comedies, She Stoops to Conquer and London Assurance, The Magistrate is sure to have audiences doubled up with laughter. When amiable magistrate Posket (John Lithgow) marries Agatha (Olivier Award-winner Nancy Carroll, After the Dance), little does he realise she’s dropped five years from her age – and her son’s. When her deception looks set to be revealed, it sparks a series of hilarious indignities and outrageous mishaps.
After Miss Julie(en)
An updated version of Strindberg’s play examining class and social differences. Julie, the daughter of an MP, seduces her father's chauffeur, despite his being engaged to the maid.
Wotta Nitemare(en)
Popeye is having a dream. In it, Bluto interupts his and Olive's flirtations with one another and keeps having the upper hand.
Nurse-Mates(en)
The boys show up simultaneously to take Olive to the movies. She needs to visit the hairdresser first, and tells the boys to take care of Swee'Pea: bath, dress him, and nap. Of course, with these two, nothing is simple.
Puppet Love(en)
Bluto builds a Popeye puppet and manipulates it to treat Olive rudely. Then he comes in and takes Olive away. When Popeye discovers the ruse, knocks Bluto out and ties puppet strings to him.
She-Sick Sailors(en)
Bluto disguises himself as Superman in order to impress the comic book hero's biggest fan, Olive Oyl. A jealous Popeye becomes a real superhero by eating his spinach.
Pitchin' Woo at the Zoo(en)
Popeye takes Olive to the zoo, where she's spotted by zookeeper Bluto, who tries various stunts to impress her and/or get rid of Popeye.
Safari So Good(en)
Popeye and Olive are on an African safari, he with a rifle, she with a camera. Olive happens across a Tarzan-like man (Bluto), and she and he are immediately smitten with one another. Popeye catches wind of this and isn't about to stand for the jungle hunk muscling in on his girl. Let the fighting and one-upmanship begin.
National Theatre Live: Trouble in Mind(en)
In 1950s America, protests for racial equality erupt in the face of voter suppression. On Broadway, Wiletta Mayer, a talented black actress, begins rehearsals for a new play about racism – written and directed by two white men. When Wiletta finds that her arguments to tell the truth of the story are dismissed, she decides to take action. First staged over 60 years ago, Trouble in Mind is widely considered the masterpiece of actress and playwright Alice Childress - a wry and radical satire of racism in theatre.
National Theatre Live: Faith, Hope & Charity(en)
In a run-down community hall on the edge of town, a woman has been cooking lunch for those in need. A choir is starting up, run by a volunteer who’s looking for a new beginning. A mother is seeking help in her fight to keep her young daughter from being taken into care. An older man sits silently in the corner, the first to arrive, the last to leave. Outside the rain is falling. Alexander Zeldin’s new play is another uncompromising theatrical experience that goes to the heart of our uncertain times.
National Theatre Live: Prima Facie(en)
Tessa is a young, brilliant barrister. From working class origins, she has reached the top of her game. An unexpected event forces her to confront the lines where the patriarchal power of the law, burden of proof and morals diverge.
Death of a Salesman(en)
Willy Loman is an over-the-hill salesman who faces a personal turning point when he loses his job and attempts to make peace with his family: Willy's long-suffering wife Linda, and Biff and Happy, his troubled sons and his life.
Sins of Jezebel(en)
The aging king of Israel, Ahab, falls under the influence of a young and beautiful but scheming Pagan woman named Jezebel and, against the advice of his advisers and the prophet Elijah, marries her. Her plan to introduce her idols to Israel angers God, who wreaks vengeance on Israel.
Opening Night(en)
A teenage boy navigates the final minutes before his first theater stage performance, which includes experiencing his first kiss. Despite his rising anxiety, he shares a romantic moment with a classmate.