We've all seen it: Cruel Intentions. One of the best things to come out of the 90s. But why is it so good? What about it captures us so? I believe it is the film's use of archetypes that speaks to our souls so much. The Magician, The Playboy, The High Priestess and The Prostitute; these are all symbols bred into our subconscious. We all have them within us. In truth, we all fall somewhere on the spectrum between High Priestess and Prostitute, Magician and Playboy. We embody all of them at different times. In the film we see how each archetype is defined and collapsed. Ultimately the combination of Playboy and High Priestess spends sparks into our hearts as Ryan Phillipe and Reese Witherspoon smolder on screen in what I can only assume is a true romance, as they ended up married after this film.
First things first: What makes a Playboy a Playboy or a High Priestess a High Priestess? Ladies first so we'll start with the High Priestess and the Prostitute. The High Priestess archetype is first and foremost one of nonaction. She merely sits at the doorway to the subconscious and represents all that is mystery and potential. Her colors are white and blue. She is quiet and doesn't move too much: this includes sex. The High Priestess doesn't have sex. She is a temple of virtue and chastity. She is all that is holy and pure in women. She is the light. So what about the Prostitute? She is the opposite. She is all that is gnarly and dark in women. She is very active, often manipulating people and situations behind the scenes and out in the open. She has no interest in the subconscious and has very little mystery or potential. She is all that is sex, mostly unholy sex. Think food, pleasure, and excruciating beauty. Her colors are pink and black. Her friends are fake, she does drugs, and she's a liar. She likes to be on top and will sacrifice almost anything to get there. Another trait of the Prostitute is death and she often dies herself. These are the two feminine archetypes.
So what about men? Men fall onto the spectrum of the Magician and the Playboy. We'll start with the Magician. He is action; he has complete control over himself and his surroundings. He IS creativity and can perform miracles. He knows what he's doing and why. He has extreme focus and pulls the power of the Gods down to earth through himself. His colors are red and white. This is the Magician. But what about his opposite? That role is the Playboy (or sometimes, the Antichrist). The Playboy is often rich, but not necessarily because he worked for it. He has no real relationships and prides himself on taking pleasure in other people's pain. He fucks everyone over, especially those who help him. He is manipulative and has multiple women. He plays twisted games with words and lies all the time. The Playboy runs when he gets too close to women and is often rewarded for his bad behavior. Thus, he achieves nothing and often plays the passive role, not knowing what he's doing or why. He's destructive with no focus and usually misunderstands situations. His colors are red and black and he, too, symbolizes death and often dies himself. These are the two masculine archetypes.
In the film Sebastian Valmont is the Playboy. Let's start with his name. S is the letter of the sun, or the masculine planet; E is the letter of partnership; B is the letter of the happy home: A is a rudimentary phallus. Then S again then T which is also a phallus. Then comes the letter I which represents ice and a compete halt and stagnation of activity. Then the phallic A again and then the letter N. N is one of the most negative letters and represents need. Deep, desperate need. Think of a big pit that consumes everything that comes near it. So basically the name Sebastian is perfect for him because it represents the masculine partnership in the home with regard to the phallus. Him and Kathryn. Then we get the sun again in the S and then the phallic T then all that came before is stopped at the I (ice). Then we have a phallus in deep, desperate need. So basically the name tells the story of Sebastian in the film. Now what about Valmont? Well V is a rudimentary vagina. Then comes the phallic A, then the letter L, which represents sex. M which is mankind and social intelligence; O which is another vagina and then the letter N, which we know represents desperate need. Then T, or a phallus. So Sebastian's last name describes his deeper nature, focusing on vaginas, phalluses, sex, social intelligence and need. Cool, huh? By the way, all my interpretations on letters come from the runes, or the Elder Futhark, which is the Viking alphabet, or the precursor to the English alphabet.
The film starts with a graveyard and Sebastian looking into the rear view mirror of his 1956 Jaguar Roadster. Foreshadowing anyone? Also 1956 in terms of numerology is like bad, bad sex. The first scene where we see Sebastian he is upside down and his first line is "What can I possibly say?" This implies the Playboy traits of not understanding things. He plays a trick on his therapist, sleeping with and taking photos of her daughter and putting them online. This is an example of the Playboy fucking over anyone who helps him. Later, he reasons that she was overcharging, but what is money to Sebastian Valmont? It would appear he doesn't understand the true reason he did what he did. There is also a mention of him doing something to the school nurse, which is further proof that he fucks over people who help. When he needs help from Blane, he has to pay, and Blane ends up fucking him over when he tells him Greg is probably the one talking trash about him to Anette. Greg isn't and Blane knew it. Thus Sebastian read the situation wrong and has no real friends, just like the Playboy archetype. Sebastian is often rewarded for bad behavior, the first of this we see in the beginning when he has just fucked over his therapist and he immediately picks up a lunch date. He also admits to hating charity to Anette and she holds his hand for the first time. In one scene he wears a red and black bathrobe and convinces Anette to go out with him simply by telling her he misses talking to her. He plays word games with Cecil when she comes over to his house and he gives her a long island ice tea. He makes her promise to kiss him. He starts taking off her pants and she freaks out and he says he wants to kiss her THERE. She resists and he says a promise is a promise. In another scene he twists words with Anette, saying she's a hypocrite because she's waiting for love and here it is! We know Anette means waiting to be in love before she has sex, but he means she's like sitting around looking for love. Twisted word play from the Playboy of all Playboys. And, of course, Sebastian dies in the end. As you can see, the Playboy archetype is rampant in the character of Sebastian Valmont.
If Sebastian is the Playboy, who is the Magician? It's Ronald, Cecil's cello teacher. Despite being a minority he's fought all odds and made good on his talent with the cello. He's giving private lessons to upper class families and attending Pre-Julliard. He's true and good. Except, of course, when tempted by the Prostitute, or Kathryn. Kathryn manipulates everyone: Sebastian, Ronald, Cecil, Mrs. Caldwell. Everyone. She lies and lies and lies. She seems to have no real friends. She's very sexual and she does drugs. All traits of the the Prostitute archetype. We first see her, she is "mentoring" to Cecil, where Mrs. Caldwell describes her as one of the most popular girls in school. Kathryn then mentions turning to God to help her through everything. Then she pulls out her cross, which we see later is a coke vial. Everything around her screams sex: the flowers, the fruit, the red curtains, the Chevron pattern floor (which is really just a bunch of phalluses and vaginas v ^ v ^ v ^). When her pride is scorned by Curt Reynolds she goes to extreme lengths to get back at him, even kissing Cecil on her way to fucking Curt over. She loves to be on top and even sits on top of Sebastian, giving him a handjob she doesn't finish and spouting off some shit about how when things don't go her way it makes her horny. She's nuts. When Cecil tells her Sebastian took advantage of her, she asks why didn't you do anything? which to me smacks of rape culture talk and toxic masculinity. She then convinces Cecil to fuck as many people as possible to make herself "perfect" for Ronald. When Kathryn finds out Sebastian is truly in love with Anette, she threatens to tell Anette's father all about Sebastian's reputation. When Sebastian finds her with Ronald, she tries to offer him sloppy seconds to make good on her bet with him. All this is Prostitute behavior. In the end she essentially causes the death of her step brother, and in her speech to the class tries to put words in Sebastian's mouth by saying he'd apologize to her. Then she "dies".
Kathryn's opposite, or foil, is Anette. As the High Priestess, Anette's main attribute is that she's a virgin. She plans to wait. She's all that's good and right in the world. She does charity and wears conservative clothes. In the scene where she and Sebastian are in the pool, when she is most the High Priestess and tells him off, she wears blue and white, the High Priestess colors. Anette is mystery and potential, just like the High Priestess. She, of course, comes down from that throne to be with the Playboy, after he has turned into the Magician. See, the High Priestess and the Magician are a natural pair, unlike the Playboy and the Prostitute who are an unnatural pair. In the first conversation between Anette and Sebastian, we see her defending her manifesto to remain a virgin. He asks if she's a lesbian, and she retorts no. She informs him that she knows of his reputation and leaves him in the dust. In the pool scene she shoots him down again. Once Greg (another Playboy) swears on his mother's life that Sebastian is ok, she relents a little. Anette wears purple, the color of divine union, when she and Sebastian do charity, he admits that he hates it, and she tells him he takes himself too seriously. Then she makes him laugh and holds his hand. Later that day, he kisses her for the first time and tries to lay her down and she pushes him away, saying she doesn't trust herself with him. Later he twists some words around and convinces her to sleep with him, but he gets cold feet. Turning into the Magician and performing a miracle, Sebastian meets her in the train station and they kiss and then have sex. After being blackmailed by Kathryn, Sebastian dumps Anette, and she's wearing the prostitute color pink over a purple dress. Sebastian gives Anette his journal and performs the miracle of turning himself from Playboy into Magician in her eyes. His final act as the Magician is to save her life and his last words are I love you. Anette is the High Priestess and Sebastian is the Playboy-turned-Magician for her. It's cute, but contrived Hollywood crap if you ask me. Oh well, we love it anyway! And part of the reason is that the film uses the archetypes of the Magician, the Playboy, the High Priestess and the Prostitute.
