Preguntas Frecuentes

Yes, the movie is based on a book of the same name by Bret Easton Ellis.

Yes. In additional audio tracks on the DVD, both actress Shannyn Sossamon (Lauren Hyde) and director Roger Avery talk about how everyone was in a bad mood during that day's shooting because of the events of the day.

The opening dialogue ("...and it's a story that might bore you...") is directly from the novel, but the closing dialogue ("...but in the end, all I could think about was...") differs from the last line in the novel, ("...but still I turn to her, my eyes interested, a serious smle, nodding, my hand squeezing her knee, and she"). It is supposed to add to the feel of randomness and disembodiment that is prevalent in the movie, and even more so in the book.

Sharp-eyed viewers have noticed that during the last scene and only a few seconds before the cut, there is a road sign indicating an upcoming intersection. Given the bad weather and Sean's intoxication, it's possible that Sean was in some kind of accident, with the blackout symbolizing his death or being knocked out. However, since the dialogue is the same in the book without indicating a crash, this scenario is unlikely.

The movie starts in the winter and goes backwards in time to earlier that fall. After the opening credits, the movie is in chronological order.

A cut was required to a scene in which a teenage girl slits her wrists, on the grounds that the technique used is not widely known and is potentially more likely to result in death than the more common method.

Lauren was raped and thrown up on by some drunken frat guy while a NYU film student filmed the encounter. Paul attempted to have sex with a frat guy, but the guy wasn't ready to be so open with his sexuality and violently threw him out. Sean had sex with a woman and didn't feel right because he still had feeling for Lauren. Afterwards, Paul and Lauren have a heart-to-heart of sorts and Sean takes off on his motorcycle.

It's also possible that the events seen at the beginning of the movie didn't actually happen at the end. Sean is seen turning around and walking out of the party at the end, whereas at the beginning he approaches a girl instead. Also, when Paul and Lauren are talking outside at the end, Lauren doesn't appear to have any vomit on her, and seems too calm for someone that has just been raped.

It's up to the viewer to decide what really happened, and is probably intentionally ambiguous.