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General		Extras
Category	Drama	Theatrical Trailer(s)	Yes, 1 - 1.33:1, Dolby Digital 5.1
Rating		Other Trailer(s)	Yes, 1 - Dolby Digital City
Year Released	1999	Commentary Tracks	Yes, 1 - Roger Kumble (Writer/Director), Theo Van De Sande (Director of Photography), Jon Gary Steele (Production Designer), Denise Wingate (Costume Designer), Neal H. Moritz (Producer), Heather Zeegen (Co-Producer), Edward Shearmur (Music)
Running Time	93:33 minutes	Other Extras	Featurette - Behind The Scenes (5:55) Music Video - Placebo - Every You, Every Me Music Video - Marcy Playground - Coming Up From Behind Deleted Scenes - 5 Cast & Crew Biographies
RSDL/Flipper	RSDL (68:22)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region	2,4	Director	Roger Kumble
Studio Distributor	Columbia Tristar	Starring	Ryan Phillippe Sarah Michelle Gellar Reese Witherspoon Selma Blair
Case	Transparent Amaray
RRP	$34.95	Music	Edward Shearmur

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	MPEG	None
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Dolby Digital	5.1
16x9 Enhancement	Yes	Soundtrack Languages	English (Dolby Digital 5.1, 384 Kb/s) French (Dolby Digital 5.1, 384 Kb/s) English Audio Commentary (Dolby Digital 2.0 , 192Kb/s)
Theatrical Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Macrovision	Yes	Smoking	Yes
Subtitles	English French Dutch Arabic Czech Danish Finnish Greek Hebrew Hindi Hungarian Icelandic Norwegian Polish Portuguese Swedish Turkish French Audio Commentary Dutch Audio Commentary	Annoying Product Placement	Yes, mildly
		Action In or After Credits	No

    The scheming Kathryn Merteuil is played by Sarah Michelle Gellar, with Sebastian Valmont (her step-brother in this incarnation of the story) played by Ryan Phillippe. Sebastian's goal in life is to seduce as many women as he possibly can in as short a space of time as he can. Kathryn's goal in life is to stab as many people in the back as she can, whilst remaining seemingly totally pure and innocent on the surface.

    Sebastian's current quest is the seduction of Annette Hargrove (Reece Witherspoon), a girl who has declared that she will remain a virgin until after she is married. To add some additional kudos to the seduction, she is the daughter of the new school principal. Kathryn bets Sebastian that he will not be able to seduce Annette. The prize? If Kathryn wins the bet, she gets to keep Sebastian's beloved car. If Sebastian wins the bet, he gets to sleep with Kathryn, something Sebastian has very much wanted to do for a long time. Interwoven with this story is the story of Cecile Caldwell (Selma Blair), a virgin who is dating a boy whom Kathryn was going out with, but who dumped Kathryn. Kathryn wants revenge, so she sets Sebastian onto Cecile.

    Confused?

    It is quite a hard plot to follow, and it doesn't quite sit right in its modern setting. The motivations and dialogue of the protagonists of this story seem far too sophisticated for any teenager. I kept having visions of John Malkovich delivering Ryan Phillippe's lines, and feeling that he was much more suited to this role. Also, the screenplay, whilst being erotic at times, frequently descends into crass vulgarity which detracts from the overall impact of the story.

    Overall? Not quite my cup of tea, though it did have its moments.

Video

    This transfer is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced.

    The transfer was razor sharp and crystal clear at all times, with an enormous amount of detail in each frame. Subtle picture details were beautifully clear. The only minor criticism I will make of the picture is that the opening shot is blurred and has quite a vertiginous effect on the viewer, but this has nothing to do with the quality of the transfer - this is how the movie was shot. Shadow detail was excellent and there was no low level noise.

    The colours were perfectly rendered, with lush and vivid hues of all sorts; vivid and detailed greens, deep warm blues, and vibrant reds. This certainly is a production which uses colour extremely well.

    No MPEG artefacts were seen. No film-to-video artefacts were seen. No film artefacts were seen.

    This disc is an RSDL disc, with the layer change placed between Chapter 22 and Chapter 23, at 68:22. It is well-placed and minimally disruptive to the flow of the movie.

Audio

    Dialogue was always clear and easy to follow, critically important for a totally dialogue-driven movie such as this one.

    There were no audio sync problems.

    The score by Edward Shearmur was exceptionally atmospheric and evocative, and blended superbly with the on-screen action, giving the movie a very sophisticated sound.

    The surround channels were used for music but little else, with no use of the surrounds for ambience or special effects. In a nutshell, this movie was mixed with the dialogue up-front-and-centre, and the music mixed to the left and right front speakers, with a small amount of spill into the surround channels.

    The .1 channel got very minor use by the music but was otherwise silent.

Menu

Theatrical Trailer

Featurette - Behind The Scenes (5:55); 1.33:1 and 1.78:1, non-16x9 enhanced, Dolby Digital 2.0 mono sound

Audio Commentary - Roger Kumble (Writer/Director), Theo Van De Sande (Director of Photography), Jon Gary Steele (Production Designer), Denise Wingate (Costume Designer), Neal H. Moritz (Producer), Heather Zeegen (Co-Producer), Edward Shearmur (Music)

Music Video - Placebo - Every You, Every Me

Music Video - Marcy Playground - Coming Up From Behind

Deleted Scenes - 5

Cast & Crew Biographies

• Full Frame version of the movie
• A 6th Deleted Scene
• Featurette - Creative Intentions: Finding A Visual Style

    The video quality is of reference quality.

    The audio quality is good but unremarkable.

    The extras are excellent.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Michael Demtschyna
22nd September 1999