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The Rules of Attraction
Exuberant adaptation of the Bret Easton Ellis novel, about a group of beautiful, wealthy and self-absorbed students tearing it up at college.
Director: Roger Avary
Overview
Sean Bateman, younger brother of Patrick, is a freshman at Camden College, a campus filled with wealthy and self-absorbed students. Sean is infatuated with Lauren, who in waiting for her former lover Victor to return from a trip around Europe. Meanwhile Paul – who once dated Lauren - is exploring his sexuality and has developed a crush on Sean.
Based on the novel by Bret Easton Ellis, and directed by long-time Tarantino collaborator Roger Avary, "Rules" follows the trio’s tangled relationships and the campus’s bizarre social rituals, mixing sex, drugs, music, and mayhem into a kaleidoscopic portrait of college life. The cast (many of whom – not coincidentally - appeared in various 90s teen dramas), soundtrack, themes, and visuals are all characteristic of Easton Ellis at his most stylishly intoxicating and nihilistic.
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