re-watched Dangerous Liaisons from DVD this weekend while visiting my husband’s brother. (Glenn Close version, just to be specific.)
now, it’s possible my memory has gotten faulty with time, but i could have sworn that the first time i saw it, when the Marquise (Close) and the Vicomte (Malkovich) finally reach their point of confrontation, when he tells her “A single word is all that is required” whether it’s to be ‘love’ or war – I swear that I remember her replying “All right…” and then practically SCREAMING “War!”
yet when we watched this time, even though they still do the close-up on her face (specifically her mouth), this time when she says “War”, it’s in a nearly conversational tone.
now, did they re-shoot this scene or perhaps re-edit it for DVD release, or something? it’s hard to believe that i’m mis-remembering this scene so badly (simply because i thought it so jarring the first time, that the Marquise would suddenly bellow like a fishwife). or is that indeed how it was originally released, and my memories have just over-colored the scene in hindsight?
The answer is: Uma Thurman’s breasts. That’s all I know about Dangerous Liaisons. Sorry I couldn’t be of more help.
No, seriously, I remember her saying it in a conversational tone too. Maybe you have it confused with a scene from some other movie where Glenn Close plays a scary bitch.
She doesn’t scream it, she just says it smoothly with a wicked lil’ curl to her lip. I love, just LOVE this movie!!!
Yep, it’s in a little conniving tone.
Now I want to watch the movie again! Tonight is going to be hot chocolate, cookies and Dangerous Liasons’s DVD 
The DVD version of the “war” line is the same as it ever was. But it is a credit to Glenn Close’s performance that she could communicate to you such defiance and combat that in your memory you hear her screaming. A great actor can put the biggest most intense emotions into the smallest most quiet deliveries.
I don’t remember the line ever being delivered in any other way than in a “conversational” tone. Though it was hardly conversational…it was dripping with defiance and barely suppressed glee. Such a masterful performance. That movie is definitely in my top 20 list.