Cruel Intentions
MPAA Rating : R
Year of Release : 1999
Stars : Sarah Michelle Gellar (Kathryn Merteuil), Ryan Phillippe (Sebastian Valmont), 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)
"Cruel Intentions" is being billed as a teenage version of "Dangerous Liaisons," but, in fact, it has little or nothing to do with being a teenager. Ostensibly, the major characters in the film are high school students, but in no way, shape, or form do they act like teenagers. They don't walk, talk, dress, or hold themselves like late adolescents; their behavior and attitudes may reflect what some teenagers fantasize about in their most sordid moments, but in no way do the characters in "Cruel Intentions" resemble actual 17- and 18-year-olds.
Interestingly enough, the movie works in spite of all this, or, perhaps, because of it. After all, if these characters did act in a manner befitting the age range they are supposed to inhabit, the story would be ludicrous and completely unbelievable. I knew some sneaky, back-stabbing people when I was in high school, but even the worst of them are nowhere near the league of Kathryn Merteuil (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and Sebastian Valmont (Ryan Phillippe), the two cold-hearted seducers at the center of this depraved tale.
Anyone who has read the original 18th-century novel, "Les Liaisons Dangereuses," by Choderlos de Laclos, seen the Broadway stage play by Christopher Hampton, or seen the recent film versions by Stephen Frears and Milos Forman will find themselves on familiar ground. The credits list the original novel as simply having "suggested" the movie, but writer and first-time director Roger Kumble follows the arc of the story almost exactly, maintaining the same cast of characters and even keeping many of their names.
The movie is updated from the drawing rooms of 18th-century France to an extravagant fantasy world masquerading as the modern upper East Side of Manhattan, where Kathryn and Sebastian are wealthy step-siblings who amuse themselves by seducing and breaking the hearts of others. They live in a luxuriously appointed penthouse, and their parents are noticeably absent. The only time the "parental units" are mentioned is when Sebastian asks how Kathryn's "gold-digging whore of a mother" is, to which Kathryn replies, "She suspects that your impotent, alcoholic father is diddling the maid." No wonder these characters are so twisted.
The centerpiece of this barely disguised morality play is a nasty bet: Kathryn will have sex with Sebastian if he succeeds in deflowering a young virgin, the daughter of their exclusive private school's new headmaster. The girl, Annette Hargrove, is a pretty young blond played by Reese Witherspoon, who effectively does the exact reverse of the sexually precocious character she recently played in "Pleasantville" (1998).There is no doubt that Annette will be a tough nut for Sebastian to crack, seeing as how she wrote a long manifesto in "Seventeen" magazine about how she plans to wait to lose her virginity. What better challenge could there be?
But, there's more; much more. Kathryn is also intent on destroying the reputation of Cecile (Selma Blair), a clumsy, wide-eyed new student for whom one of Kathryn's boyfriends dumped her. Kathryn can't stand the fact that she has been dumped for a goofy ingenue, so she hatches a plot to ruin Cecile's life. This not only involves Cecile getting sexual lessons from Sebastian, but also her getting together with Ronald, a black music instructor (Sean Patrick Thomas), for whom she has real feelings.
Unfortunately for Cecile and fortunately for the scheming Kathryn, this raises the hackles of Cecile's shallow mother (Christine Baranski), who can't stand the idea of her daughter being with someone of another race. "I brought you off the street," the mother declares, to which Ronald, a candidate for the Juilliard, replies, "But I live on 59th and Park." This racial dimension to the film is a bit clunky, as are the brief dealings with Sebastian's gay friend (Joshua Jackson of "Dawson's Creek") and his lover, a hypocritical football player cowering in the closet.
But, those are merely side plots. The point of the whole story is that Sebastian actually falls in love with Annette during the elaborate process of seducing her, but his past history and his own distorted vision of himself disallow him from following through on his true emotions. This is, of course, aided and abetted by the evil Kathryn, whose cannot allow her partner in depravity to cross over to the other side. The story is, despite its flashy exterior and raunchy dialogue, both a tragedy and a moral critique of those who toy with emotions instead of feeling them.
"Cruel Intentions" works mostly through the performances of its lead actors (all of whom are quite obviously in their early 20s). Nothing Sarah Michelle Gellar has done on the TV show "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" can prepare you for the cold seductress she plays here. She slinks and slithers throughout the film, playing up the good girl class president role in the presence of adults, and then sinking into sadistic depravity when she's alone with Sebastian, where she talks like sailor and snorts cocaine out of a silver crucifix. Gellar takes some risks with this role, including an extended "practice" kissing session with Blair that Kumble films in erotic, lavish close-up.
Phillippe adopts John Malkovich's clipped vocal rhythms in the role of Sebastian, and he effectively does what he was unable to do in last summer's underwhelming "54": he holds the center of the film. With his boyish good looks and understated, crafty charm, Phillippe makes us believe in Sebastian as a cruel seducer. But, more importantly, he makes a believable transition into someone who can actually feel vulnerability and is forced to drive Annette away because he doesn't believe in his own capacity to love.
The movie as a whole sometimes pushes its own limits and, truth be said, it is pretty sleazy at times. But, it's enjoyable in a trashy, "Wild Things" kind of way. In some ways, reducing "Dangerous Liaisons" to a story about malicious teenagers is ridiculous, but in another way it makes sense. After all, once you strip away all the courtly graces that have always been lavishly draped around the earlier tellings of this tale, what you're really left with are a bunch of privileged, spoiled kids with nothing better to do with their time.
©1999 James Kendrick