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The Rules of Attraction's bleak originality shows character study
 Harold John Behling
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So another director has taken on the task of converting a Bret Easton Ellis novel into a successful Hollywood motion picture.
Due to the success of Mary Harron's recent adaptation of "American Psycho," and with a sequel in the making, it seems like a good idea to bring another one of Ellis's tales of the '80s to the big screen. But then again, doesn't anyone else remember the failure of the film version of "Less than Zero?"
Now when I heard of Roger Avary's upcoming film of the 1987 novel "The Rules of Attraction" staring Dawson Creek's James Van Der Beek, I had one thing to say: Good luck.
Set in the mid eighties, "The Rules of Attraction" is an intimate and disturbing character study focusing on three young students attending a liberal arts college in New Hampshire. Sean Bateman (familiar to Ellis fans as the brother of the "American Psycho" title character Patrick Bateman and now being portrayed in the upcoming movie version by Van Der Beek) falls in love with Lauren Hynde. Her heart belongs to Victor, another student who's off bumming around Europe. Lauren's ex-boyfriend, the bisexual Paul Denton, falls in love with Sean, and so the story goes.
Don't expect to like any of these characters at first. They live in a satiric college world thick with "Dress to Get Screwed" parties, dining hall social politics and an endless string of sexual liaisons.
The exploits of Sean, Paul and Lauren include a suicide, several attempted suicides, a botched drug deal, an abortion and a cocaine fueled road trip that takes Sean and Lauren across New England and through several drastic changes in their relationship.
One thing that makes this book stand out is its outlandish and unconventional form. It begins on page 13, in the middle of a sentence, in the middle of a story told by an unnamed character who ends up being Lauren Hynde.
It ends in the same way, in midthought, without resolution.
Somewhere in the middle is a blank page and an account by Sean's French roommate Bertrand (in French).
The book is told in episodic first person accounts mostly by the three main characters, but there are also accounts by as many as ten other minor characters. By telling and retelling certain events and encounters from different viewpoints, "Rules of Attraction" paints a complete and unique portrait of its central love triangle.
Paul, Lauren and Sean are never really on the same page and never quite understand each other or their feelings towards each other. The different accounts reveal mistaken interpretations, confusion and a general feeling that no one really knows what is going on.
As far as Ellis goes to dehumanize his characters, he somehow accomplishes to do just the opposite. What results is an insight into the relationships of men and women (and men and men) that almost takes the reader by surprise.
Deep inside "The Rules of Attraction" is an account of the ambiguities of young love and the mixed signals and differing interpretations that can be made from different points of view. If you are willing to be sickened and even frustrated by this numbing introspective account, you will be rewarded.
"The Rules of Attraction" is bleak, original, sometimes utterly hilarious and just as disturbing. Dedicated Bret Easton Ellis fans will enjoy cameo appearances by Sean's brother Patrick (the protagonist of "American Psycho") and Clay (from "Less than Zero").
Harold John Behling can be reached at: [email protected]
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