Cruel Intentions (1999)
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A wealthy teenager and his manipulative stepsister engage in a high-stakes bet to seduce a girl who is determined to remain pure.
The story
In New York City, wealthy teenager Sebastian Valmont regularly manipulates and seduces women, but seeks someone who poses a challenge to his charm. He settles on Annette Hargrove—the daughter of his new school headmaster—who is staunchly opposed to sex before falling in love. Sebastian and his equally manipulative stepsister, the intelligent and popular Kathryn Merteuil, agree to a bet: if Sebastian fails to seduce Annette, then Kathryn gets his vintage Jaguar XK140; if he wins, Kathryn will finally have sex with him. Kathryn also tries to recruit Sebastian into her own scheme to take revenge on her ex-boyfriend Court Reynolds, who left her for the naive and innocent Cecile Caldwell.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
In New York City, wealthy teenager Sebastian Valmont and his manipulative stepsister Kathryn Merteuil enter a bet to see if Sebastian can seduce the headmaster's daughter, Annette. While Sebastian begins to develop genuine feelings for Annette, Kathryn's schemes involve manipulating others, including a music teacher and a girl named Cecile. As the plot unfolds, Sebastian and Kathryn's games lead to complex emotional consequences. Sebastian eventually realizes his love for Annette and tries to confess the truth of the bet, but is manipulated by Kathryn into lying to Annette. Following a tragic accident where Sebastian is fatally injured, he dies while confessing his love to Annette. At his funeral, Kathryn's reputation is destroyed when Cecile distributes Sebastian's journal, which details the truth of their manipulations, their bet, and his true feelings for Annette. The film ends with Annette driving away in Sebastian's car, reflecting on their time together.
- Original title
- Cruel Inventions
- First release year
- 1999
- Runtime (minutes)
- 97
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Roger Kumble
- Writers
- Roger Kumble · screenplay
- Cast and characters
- Ryan Phillippe · Sebastian Valmont; Sarah Michelle Gellar · Kathryn Merteuil; Reese Witherspoon · Annette Hargrove; Selma Blair · Cecile Caldwell; Louise Fletcher · Helen Rosemond; Joshua Jackson · Blaine Tuttle; Eric Mabius · Greg McConnell; Sean Patrick Thomas · Ronald Clifford
- Genres
- romantic drama; teen drama
- Themes
- manipulation; romance; identity; betrayal
- Tone and mood
- darkly comic; dramatic
- Premise and plot tags
- high school; upper class; romance
- Source material / true-story basis
- Pierre Choderlos de Laclos' 1782 novel Les Liaisons dangereuses
- Reception
- The film received mixed critical reviews but was praised for the performances of its lead cast and has since become a cult classic.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 54% · scale: percentage · review count: 119; Metacritic · score: 56 · scale: 100 · review count: 24; CinemaScore · score: B- · scale: A+ to F
- Production trivia
- The film was originally titled 'Cruel Inventions'.; Approximately 10% of the budget was spent to secure the license for 'Bitter Sweet Symphony'.; The film was originally a smaller-budget independent film.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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