Cruel Intentions/Sexe Intentions

(Sexual Intentions?)

Over the years, there has been a lot "teenage" adaptations of classic novels (mainly Shakespeare, with "10 Things I Hate About You", "Clueless", "She's the Man" and so on) and Cruel Intentions is, in my opinion, probably one of the best. 

It's the modern adaptation of Choderlos de Laclos' epistolary novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Stephen Frear's version with John Malkovich and Glenn Close is an absolutely brilliant must see film). 

Kathryn (Buffy) and Sebastian (Ryan Philippe), who are step sis and bro, bet that he can't deflower the new principal's daugher, Annette (Reese Witherspoon) who is set on waiting until marriage. 

If she wins, she gets his car. If he wins, he gets Kathryn.

Cruel Intentions follows the plot of Laclos' novel fairly closely... With Sebastian surrounded by women he can't or shouldn't be allowed to have: his step-sister, a virgin and someone promised to another man (Cecile, who Kathryn asks Sebastian to seduce as an act of revenge for having been dumped by Cecile's new boyfriend). The step sister thing adds another "forbidden love" dimension to an already not so PC story. 

It all ends very badly as Kathryn is revealed as the manipulative person she is, and not the social perfection and model student she appears to be. Cruel Intentions is the title of Sebastian's journal and it reflects the true nature of the main two characters, and the cruel games they play with other people's feelings and lives for their own entertainment. Although Sebastian sort of finds redemption his love for Annette, Kathryn intents on lying to the end and the film concludes with her in cheerleader hell as she becomes less popular than people in a glee club (well, I'm told that they're the bottom of the social ladder).

So, the French title: Sexe Intentions. A plain and obvious example of rule 2 (Aka, the Magic E rule).  Sexe Intentions doesn't mean anything, for crying out loud! And it isn't even grammatically correct ! 

I can imagine the discussion when getting the poster ready: "- So, are we calling the film Intentions cruelles?
- No, no, no! You have to add "sexe" in there somewhere, it'll sell a bit better."
Muppets.