the ending - Cruel Intentions (1999) Discussion

[–] davemc1 14 years ago

There certainly are some small questions left unanswered and if they were answered it could support your theory more so but i'd say its very unlikely that was the intented ending. I thought she realized that Seb was actually being played by Katherine and she knew that he loved him and forgave him for his past, got back at the true evil and that she felt that put Sebastians soul at peace which made her content.

I do think you might be reading into it alittle much filling in a few blanks on your own but it would be quite arrogant to say for sure. Those twists in films certainly have happened and even though I don't think it was implied in this one i can't prove it wrong either. I suppose it's all up to the viewer to decide :)

My girlfriends ending was that Seb wasn't dead: he was in the backseat of that car and they were fleeing together. HAHA - i doubt it...

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[–] shootthekitty 14 years ago

I thought Cecille should've showed Ron the book, and he would've realized Kathryn was a decietful liar, and he was a pawn in his death. As for the O.P. I don't think Annette was the manipulative one. I guess it's what you believe though.

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[–] 14 years ago

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[–] RADinaRy 14 years ago

I can see how people could see it that way, though it's not intended to be like that from what I read somewhere and that in the end scenes of Annette driving out of the city as she's smiling they added in scenes of her and Sebastian together to show she's still herself and not the new Kathryn.

Introduce her to your world of sex, drugs and what else do you do? Cruel Intentions

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[–] Lady_Kagome 14 years ago

I agree its possible. I was thinking the same thing. I was shocked that she was driving his car at the end, almost like SHE won the bet and won the car(of course it would've been a bet with herself)... idk, might be over analyzing it.. or maybe everyone else is under-analyzing it

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[–] 14 years ago

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[–] MyMovieTVRomance 11 years ago

OMG... seems like none of you guys read the origival book by Choderlos de Laclos. Cruel intentions are really Dangerous liasons in a modern wrapping, you know. Have you seen Dangerous liasons with Malkovich and Thurman or Miloš Forman´s Valmont? It´s all about this book - Dangeous liasons and it is set in 18th century. The story is almost the same like in this "new" remake (now a decade old movie), except for the fact that in other versions, Marquise deMerteuil and vicomt deValmont were old friends and ex-lovers, not step brother and sister (which makes the movie even more picant, tho). But Annette Hargrove (in the book called Mme deTourvel) really WAS the purest creature in the whole story. "A paradigm of chastity and virtue". And she had nothing to do with the evil plan, nor had she orchestrated anything herself, because such behavior was out of her character. THE STORY REALLY IS HOW IT IS. There are no other, hidden meanings. Deal with it.

I haven't read the book, I'll admit. But, bear in mind that in "dangerous liaisons" (1988) and I'm assuming in the book as well, Annette's character dies. So, the mere fact that Annette lives in this version means that some artistic liberties were taken with the actual details. Therefore, that being the case, it is entirely possible that since Annette lived, instead of dying, she may have also been the one to cause a lot of grief -- i.e., the really manipulative one.

Remember, if this movie where sticking entirely true to the novel, Annette probably wouldn't have lived. The mere fact that she lives proves that the OP's theory could be correct.

Please excuse typos/funny wording; I use speech-recognition that doesn't always recognize!

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[–] 11 years ago

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[–] rafamybaby 13 years ago

I totally agree with OP! I was surprised no one on the board saw it that way. To me the ending clearly indicates that Anette had been up to something the whole time.
Like it was her plan/bet to make Sebastian finally fall in live with her.
And yeah, the fact that she's driving his car, smiriking and showing no grief over her "love" in not meaningless IMO.
And it doesn't matter that her charcater in the book and the original film was different. The filmmakers have the freedom to change the original as much as they want. It's not a remake of the Dangerous Liasons.

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[–] madman_salv 13 years ago

Hmm I don't think so. If Annette really was the portrayal of the character in the original novel, she was pure, innocent and sweet.

I think the driving the car in the end must have something to do with the book. We never got to see the rest of his journal; only the bet page and the Kathryn page. I reckon in the journal it stated that he didn't want her to take his car (after winning the bet), and towards the end, he could have written that he wanted Annette to have his car had something happened(or something like that).

Basically, simply put, Annette and Sebastian "won" against Kathryn in all ways possible:

1. Destroying her reputation
2. Getting her arrested after finding the cocaine
3. Losing the literal bet prize (the car)

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[–] d-graph 12 years ago

I had never watched this movie before until last night. After the ending, it instantly hits me that Annette wasn't 'innocent' or 'sweet' after all. Clues:

1) Annette knew who was Seb and what exactly was he like, yet she decides to cheat on her mountain boyfriend (or was that a trick?) and hang out with Seb.
2) Annette didn't seem so sad when Seb died. And she clearly shown no sadness at the funeral. She only went there to hand out the copies and tease Kathryn. She didn't pay any respect to Seb in the hall.
3) Annette driving away on the FUNERAL day so early in Seb's car.
4) While driving away from the funeral, Annette looks so happy knowing that she exposed Kathryn and gets pleasure from doing it.

These clues tell me that Annette didn't really care about Seb at all, she just cared about 'backstabbing' Kathryn. She's just like Kathryn but in a 'innocent' way, but still not innocent none the less.

Seb, Kathryn and Annette are as bad as each other in thier own ways.

As long as I believe this theory, I consider the movie a very great movie. It should be rated at least 8.

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[–] Allareowned 12 years ago

That was the original intent, yes. There was a scene in the script where Annette confronts Kathryn in the bathroom.

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'Cause Napalm sticks to kids.

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[–] PiperLove 12 years ago

I remember a friend telling me that I think she also kisses her to in the script

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[–] richopp 10 years ago

Well, I always took it like the OP did, but did not read the original book or script, so I may be wrong. I agree that Hollywood would have played it up as they believe we are way to dumb to understand anything in a film unless they hit us over the head with it.

However, I took it that way from the start, and after reading comments may have to see it again and rethink my interpretation.

I don't think the OP is that far off in his or her take on the film, and I kind of liked it better that way myself!

Cheers!

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[–] AndrewGS 9 years ago

I had never watched this movie before until last night. After the ending, it instantly hits me that Annette wasn't 'innocent' or 'sweet' after all. Clues:

1) Annette knew who was Seb and what exactly was he like, yet she decides to cheat on her mountain boyfriend (or was that a trick?) and hang out with Seb.

I think she broke up with her boyfriend soon after the new relationship began. Yeah she knew he was devious but thought he also had good qualities and could/would improve.

2) Annette didn't seem so sad when Seb died. And she clearly shown no sadness at the funeral. She only went there to hand out the copies and tease Kathryn. She didn't pay any respect to Seb in the hall.

The filmmakers' interpretation, from the commentary, was that Sebastian would be/from the afterlife was glad that Annette was ruining Kathryn's reputation (even though it also kind of hurts his and so is a little ethically questionable).

3) Annette driving away on the FUNERAL day so early in Seb's car.

I could be misremembering but I don't think the film indicated she was driving away the same day as Sebastian's funeral.

4) While driving away from the funeral, Annette looks so happy knowing that she exposed Kathryn and gets pleasure from doing it.

These clues tell me that Annette didn't really care about Seb at all, she just cared about 'backstabbing' Kathryn. She's just like Kathryn but in a 'innocent' way, but still not innocent none the less.

Seb, Kathryn and Annette are as bad as each other in thier own ways.

I don't think Annette is as bad as Kathryn, even in a different way, exposing a bad person and enjoying it isn't so bad, but I do like that the ending suggested Annette did become a bit darker, her relationship made him better and her more corrupt or at least less naive and more willing to be ruthless.

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[–] yvesyves (714) a year ago

so you mean Anette knew Sebastian was an arrogant playboy womanizer and she wanted to teach him a lesson by actually making him fall in love with her and then break up with him?

Give him a taste of his own medicine , manipulate him and break his heart like he did to many girls??

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[–] southcatt 11 years ago

Silly Rabbits, there was no twist. Annette "won" because she got to experience Love. With Sebastion. Who truly loved her back. And Katherine didn't. Annette was remembering the good things about Sebastion when she was driving his hot little car. She wasn't crying because this wasn't his funeral, Children, it was a memorial at school for a student who had died BEFORE school even started.

Trust me, a movie with such a "twist" would have been much more blatant about it. Hollywood writers are very well aware of their audience.

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[–] 11 years ago

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[–] stonesofblue-1 11 years ago

Silly Rabbits, there was no twist. Annette "won" because she got to experience Love. With Sebastion. Who truly loved her back. And Katherine didn't. Annette was remembering the good things about Sebastion when she was driving his hot little car. She wasn't crying because this wasn't his funeral, Children, it was a memorial at school for a student who had died BEFORE school even started.

Trust me, a movie with such a "twist" would have been much more blatant about it. Hollywood writers are very well aware of their audience.

This is the most sensible post in this topic.

The OP is overthinking this movie.

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[–] Allareowned 11 years ago

No they aren't. There was originally a twist ending. It was in the script and it was filmed, hence acted, that way. It was then edited out.

Why they dropped the twist? Who knows. Probably because it would have been too close to Wild Things which come out just a little while before. Sad because it would have made the movie infinitely better instead of a pedestrian and sexist morality tale.

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'Cause Napalm sticks to kids.

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[–] sarahb2 9 years ago

No they aren't. There was originally a twist ending. It was in the script and it was filmed, hence acted, that way. It was then edited out.

Actually, I found a script online that contains something like the twist ending the OP is describing - that is, it turns out that Annette is just as scheming and devious as Kathryn, and shows up in her bedroom to gloat about how she 'owns' her now that she has Sebastian's journal and knows all of Kathryn's secrets.

However: 1. the script doesn't bear a lot of resemblance to the finished movie, making me think it was an early draft so I don't think that scene was ever filmed and 2. I couldn't find anything in that scene to suggest that Annette was playing Sebastian too, or that she didn't love him. She seemed more angry at Kathryn than anything else, and it plays more like "I've got your number and I'm going to beat you at your own game" than "ha ha I was playing you and your stepbrother the whole time."

In other words, I don't think they filmed or acted the movie with the thought that Annette was going to turn out to be a horrible person. I think they may have toyed with making her that way, but abandoned the idea before it got to the shooting stage. At least, I can't find any evidence to suggest otherwise.

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[–] Drooch (5333) 4 years ago

Yes you’re correct. If Annette was behind the whole thing they’d have a Scream-style revelation scene. The OP is misinterpreting Annette’s satisfaction that Katherine got what she deserved, and smile as she fondly remembers Sebastion while she drives off in his car (complete with flashback shots of their relationship) with her being a conniving villainess that plotted everything from the start - which would make no sense.

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[–] Boromir (10130) a year ago

It's an interesting theory. In such situations, I always examine the body language and facial expressions of the actors. In this scenario, actress Reese Witherspoon should be aware of the manipulation and play the role accordingly. However, Annette shows no physical indication that she is manipulating Sebastian, neither when she is with him nor when she is alone. She genuinely seems to care about him. So I believe Sebastian and Annette relationship was genuine. In that case, I doubt Annette has some long scheme for revenge against Katherine.

On the other hand, I can identify several scenarios that support his theory—or, to be precise, are irrefutable or difficult to refute. For instance, she may have initially planned to seek revenge on Katherine through Sebastian, but ended up falling in love with him. Throughout the first half of the film, she appears to play hard to get but also enjoys flirting with Sebastian. She takes the initiative—kissing him, go to the pool with him, holding his hand, making him laugh—and ultimately offers herself to him in the scene where she locks the door, seemingly persuaded by his speech. In the end, she receives his most valuable possession and achieving her revenge on Katherine. She end the winner.

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