During the school holidays, Kathryn Merteuil (Sarah Michelle Gellar) tries to persuade her stepbrother Sebastian (Ryan Phillippe) to seduce Cecile (Selma Blair), who has stolen her boyfriend. But he has another target: the innocent Annette Hargrove (Reese Witherspoon). Annette, wary of his reputation, avoids him while Cecile falls for her music teacher, a romance quickly snuffed out by her mother. But as Sebastian and Annette are drawn closer, so Kathryn's jealousy sows seeds of destruction...
Human frailty sketched from de Laclos' classic Les Liaisons Dangereuses is one marketing strategy. Buffy In Same-Sex Shocker is another. Cruel Intentions uses them both, updating its original ambition from vicious low-budget guerilla short to feature-length Hollywood splendour as a result. Updating many features of the original novel (love letters become e-mails) without losing its flavour, this 1999 film delivers drama and intrigue courtesy of a quartet who relish their characters.
Cruel Intentions is a Film programme that first aired in 1999 and has been classified a 15 certificate.
