Diksha Sundriyal
Prime Video’s ‘Cruel Intentions’ follows the story of two step-siblings whose psychosexually intertwined lives become even more complicated with the arrival of a new girl on campus. Caroline Merteuil is the head of a sorority whose existence is threatened after a hazing incident goes wrong, bringing to light the toxic system perpetuated by the sororities and the fraternities of the college. Caroline has her heart set on Annie Grover, who is the daughter of the Vice President of the country. If Annie joins Caroline’s sorority, every danger lingering on them since the hazing incident will pass. To persuade her, Caroline gets her step-brother, Lucien, on the job, but that makes things even more complicated for the duo. In the midst of all this, they also have to deal with the things going on at the college, making the story’s setting incredibly important to the plot.
The Fictional Manchester College is Brought to Life by a Real Co-ed College
The events in the Prime Video series unfold in Washington, DC, which gives deep political undertones to the story and the actions of its characters. However, there is no college of such a name in the country’s capital. There is a private liberal arts college called Manchester University in North Manchester, Indiana. There is also the Manchester College in Greater Manchester in the UK. However, both of these colleges have no connection whatsoever to the one that appears in the show. Rather, the fictional Manchester College borrows its name from Manchester Prep, the fictional high school in New York that serves as the backdrop of the 1999 film, ‘Cruel Intentions,’ which is also the inspiration behind the TV show.
While the story for the series is set in the US, like many other shows, it is filmed in Canada. The entire filming of the 2024 YA series took place in and around Toronto. The scenes featuring Manchester College seem to have been filmed at De La Salle College. It is a private, co-educational, Catholic college preparatory school founded in 1851. The exteriors of the building appear in several scenes of the show, with the real-life school receiving a bit of a makeover to make it seem more like a cut-throat Greek life in a Washington DC college.
While Caroline and Lucien’s complicated relationship sets the story’s tone, a lot of what happens to them and the people around them is also influenced by the history of the place they are at. Manchester College emerges as a character of its own, with a rich history and an established legacy that makes the students heavily invested in their performance at the place. For people like Caroline, it is all about outshining her mother, who was also in the same college and the same sorority when she was young. Things like these motivate Caroline and her peers to do whatever it takes to get what they want.
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