Dangerous Liaisons (Les Liaisons dangereuses) is a French epistolary novel by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, first published in 1782. It is the story of the Marquise de Merteuil and the Vicomte de Valmont, two ex-lovers who use sex and seduction as a weapon to humiliate and destroy other people's lives. The novel is celebrated for its exploration of erotic intrigues and human malice. It has been claimed to depict the decadence of the French aristocracy shortly before the French Revolution, exposing the perversions of the so-called Ancien Régime.