The Rules of Attraction

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Roger Avary directs. Robert Brinkmann behind the camera. Tom Hajdu scores. Sharon Rutter cuts. Profitable at the box office. Produced in Germany, United States of America. Dialogue in German, English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 1Shot for just $4.0M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
• 2Released 24 years ago.
• 3Dialogue crosses 2 languages: German, English.
• 4International production across 2 countries: Germany, United States of America.
• 5Directed by Roger Avary, shot by Robert Brinkmann. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 6Original score by Tom Hajdu. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 7Editor Sharon Rutter shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 8James Van Der Beek and Shannyn Sossamon and Ian Somerhalder carry the top of the cast.
• 9Marketing tagline: "We all run on instinct".
• 10IMDB entry: tt0292644 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 11Classified under 9 themes, including "suicide", "rape", "based on novel or book", "love triangle".

The technical file

Cinematography

Robert Brinkmann

Original score

Tom Hajdu

Editing

Sharon Rutter

Production design

Sharon Seymour

Costume design

Louise Frogley

Makeup / hair

Greg Nicotero

Sound

Michael Kamper

Runtime

110 min · 1h 50m

Aspect ratio (typical)

1.37:1 (Academy)

Status

Released

Budget

$4,000,000

Box office

$11,832,822

Return

296% of budget

Original language

EN

Certification (US)

R

IMDB

The Rules of Attraction (2002) ↗

Rotten Tomatoes

45% 🥫 Rotten

Metacritic

50/100

IMDB rating

6.6/10 · 54,681 votes

MPAA

R

Also by

Roger Avary

• 
  The Worm Turns

  1983 · ★ 8.0
• 
  Killing Zoe

  1993 · ★ 6.2
• 
  Lucky Day

  2019 · ★ 5.4
• 
  Mr. Stitch

  1995 · ★ 4.7
• 
  The Human Voice

  2018

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  The Rules of Attraction (2002) Original Trailer [FHD]

  Trailer
• 

  ▶
  The Rules of Attraction - Trailer

  Teaser · Official

Production companies

Who made it

• KI

  Kingsgate Films

  US

• RO

  Roger Avary Filmproduktion GmbH

• 

  Lionsgate

  US

Key crew

• Music CoordinatorStephanie Urcheck
• Set DresserMichael O'Donnell
• Costume DesignLouise Frogley
• EditorSharon Rutter
• ProducerGreg Shapiro
• Art DirectionChristopher Tandon
• Sound DesignerMichael Kamper
• Production DesignSharon Seymour
• Sound Re-Recording MixerLance Brown
• Makeup ArtistGreg Nicotero
• Supervising Sound EditorGlenn T. Morgan
• Set DecorationTeresa Visinare
• Key Hair StylistTrish Almeida
• NovelBret Easton Ellis
• Foley RecordistGreg Zimmerman
• Script SupervisorScott Peterson
• Foley ArtistJeffrey Wilhoit

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• suicide
• rape
• based on novel or book
• love triangle
• bisexuality
• college
• new hampshire
• inspirational
• hilarious

Release history · US

When it landed

• Theatrical2002-10-11R

Also known as

International titles

• Les lois de l'attractionFR
• Die Regeln des Spiels – Rules of AttractionDE
• Las reglas del juegoES
• Regras da AtraçãoBR
• Die Regeln des Spiels - The Rules of AttractionDE
• AtracciónMX
• Законы привлекательностиRU