Cruel Intentions

The diabolical psychosexual machinations of Pierre Choderlos de Laclos’s classic novel “Les liaisons dangereuses” are audaciously transplanted to a rich-kid Manhattan prep school in this delectably debauched, startlingly corrupt reimagining—one of the most daring teen movies of the 1990s. Ryan Phillippe and Sarah Michelle Gellar are the duplicitous stepsiblings who draw everyone in their orbit into their devious games of erotic and emotional manipulation. Their latest, and most difficult, target: the virginal good-girl daughter (Reese Witherspoon) of their school’s new headmaster. With its arch dialogue, delicious performances, and air of hedonistic immorality, CRUEL INTENTIONS puts a fresh twist on its scandalous source material.