The Rules of Attraction (2002) on Netflix
At Camden College, Lauren Hynde is saving her virginity for Victor, her ex-boyfriend in Europe. Paul Denton misreads Sean Bateman's friendliness, and Sean thinks the purple notes are Lauren's.
- Netflix3.1/5
- IMDb6.6/1055,919 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes43%
Trailer
Plot summary
At Camden College in New Hampshire, Lauren Hynde, Paul Denton and Sean Bateman circle one another at a college full of spoiled, overprivileged students. Lauren, a virgin, is holding out for Victor, her ex-boyfriend, who is spending the semester in Europe, though she is drawn to Sean, a drug dealer from Berlin, New Hampshire. Purple letters start arriving in Sean's mailbox, and he decides they come from Lauren, and he fantasizes about her. Paul is bisexual and Lauren's ex-boyfriend from before he came out of the closet; he reads interest into the time Sean spends with him and makes advances Sean does not notice. Lauren's roommate Lara is promiscuous.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Rules of Attraction (2002)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- It was one of the first studio features cut on Final Cut Pro, using a beta of version 3, and it proved to the industry that 3:2 pulldown matchback to 24fps worked with off-the-shelf software. Roger Avary then appeared in print advertisements for the program worldwide.
- There was no money for Victor's European trip, so Avary paid for it himself and chased Kip Pardue around several countries with a handheld camera, shooting him around the clock while the actor stayed in character from the moment he boarded the plane out of the United States.
- Avary wrote the first version of the screenplay as a college student without owning the rights to the book, because it reminded him of the people around him at the time. Fifteen years passed before he was reminded of it and rewrote the script.
- The MPAA first handed Lions Gate an NC-17, and Avary cut the film down to an R, awarded for strong sexual content, drug use, language and violent images.
SPOILER
British cinemas showed the film uncut, but the BBFC ordered the suicide scene trimmed for the video release even at the 18 certificate, arguing that video reached younger viewers and let them replay scenes over and over again.- Bret Easton Ellis was meant to record a commentary for the home release. He told his podcast that he had been up late taking drugs the night before, forgot the session entirely, turned up anyway and rambled so badly that the track was unusable.
