Cruel Intentions (3 Stars)

This is one of the many film adaptations of Pierre Choderlos de Laclos' 18th Century novel, "Dangerous Liaisons". It's a tribute to the power of the novel that it's always relevant, whether it's set in 1960's Paris, in 1930's Shanghai or as in this film, in 1990's New York. What's common to every version is that we see the idle rich spending their time with sexual encounters and revenge schemes.

In this version Kathrynn Merteuil and Sebastian Valmont are brother and sister in name only. They live in the same house after their parents married, but there's no connection by blood. Sebastian is a womaniser who has slept with many girls, mostly the daughters of rich families in New York, but the girl he desires the most is his sister. That's hardly surprising, considering Kathrynn is played by Sarah Michelle Gellar. Kathrynn knows what Sebastian wants and uses it to control him. She flirts with him, partially exposing herself in front of him and rubbing her body against his. He's helpless in her hands.

Kathrynn was recently dumped by her boyfriend in favour of an innocent young girl, Cecile. She asks Sebastian to seduce Cecile to break up the relationship. He's reluctant to do this because he wants to seduce Annette Hargrove, the daughter of his school's principal, before the next term starts. Kathrynn can't wait that long, so she turns up the pressure. She writhes on her brother's lap and promises him he can sleep with her after he succeeds in his task.

The story has several twists and turns as it progresses. In the early parts of the film Sebastian seems like the bad guy, but as it progresses we see that he's the victim of his manipulative sister. She's playing other games that aren't apparent at first. The tagline of the German release of this film is

"Love is a game in which there are no winners".

That's very cynical, but it fits this film.

This is a sleek, sexy adaptation of "Dangerous Liaisons". The music and the atmosphere give it the feeling of a teen comedy. For me that's the film's greatest weakness. It's difficult to accept teenagers as being so evil and manipulative.

In the film we see an article in the magazine Seventeen in which Annette Hargrove praises the values of celibacy. She begins with admirable words:

"With teenage pregnancy on the rise and the growing concern of teens contracting HIV, one would think that my virgin status would be the norm, not the exception. However, as I enter my senior year at Manchester Prep, I am all too aware that many of my peers may view me as weird because I haven't had sex yet. It's not that I can't get a date. In fact I have a terrific boyfriend. We just feel that people our age are too young to actually understand what love is, and therefore we are waiting until we reach a more mature stage of our relationship. Most teens I know live their lives day to day, without a care in the world, and that's the way we should be during adolescence. But when you add sex into this carefree lifestyle the consequences can be devastating for both the individuals and the relationship".

Those are wonderful words. But how does she continue?

"Now is the likda dihaindj jasion doi ths kifop Imcha vitme sando wital cuartc juccly onma caucl woiml kichr".

She repeats the same gibberish for two pages. If you don't believe me, click on the photo above for a closer look. If she's run out of things to say she should just stop talking. Maybe she isn't serious about waiting till marriage after all. The magazine should never have interviewed her. It's all very sloppy.

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