Love Me If You Dare

When eight-year-old Julien Janvier goes to catch the school bus one morning, he finds classmate Sophie Kowalsky being bullied by their classmates for being Polish. To cheer Sophie up, Julien gives her a small tin box with a merry-go-round on it, a gift from his terminally ill mother. Because it is important to him, he asks her to lend it back to him from time to time. When Sophie demands proof of how important it is to Julien, he disengages the handbrake of the school bus filled with children, sending it rolling down the street. They then create their own game of dares: whenever one of them is in possession of the box, the other must complete a dare. A lasting friendship develops between the son of wealthy Belgian parents and the daughter of poor Polish immigrants. They take turns giving each other dares, such as saying profanities to teachers, urinating in front of the headmaster and wreaking havoc at Sophie's older sister's wedding (during which Julien accepts Sophie's dare to say "no" at the altar if he ever gets married), with no regard for consequences or punishment. Julien's father takes a dislike to Sophie for encouraging his son's rebellious streak, but arranges for her to have a sleepover with Julien after his mother dies of cancer. When Julien expresses interest in visiting Sophie, she makes him promise that he will never come to her place. As they grow older, the pair, now university students, continue their game. They develop feelings for each other and eventually kiss. Meanwhile, Julien's relationship with his father becomes increasingly strained, with Julien's father blaming him for his mother's death. When Julien visits Sophie's apartment in a housing project, she berates him for not keeping his promise. Some time later, Sophie approaches Julien in a library, but his refusal to admit his feelings prompts her to leave on a bus. He chases after the bus while proclaiming that he loves her, but the bus drives away. Julien and Sophie reunite four years later. At a restaurant, he tells her that he is in love and wants to get married, before introducing Sophie to his fiancée, Christelle. Sophie interrupts Julien's wedding ceremony, daring him to say "no" at the altar. This infuriates Julien's father, who severs ties with his son. Afterwards, Sophie is nearly killed after Julien dares her to stand blindfolded on railway tracks. After daring Julien to stay completely out of touch for ten years, Sophie reconciles with her on-and-off boyfriend, footballer Sergueï Nimov-Nemovich. Ten years later, Julien is married to Christelle and has two children, while Sophie is married to Sergueï, who is now a football star. Julien admits that he misses Sophie, though he assumes that she has forgotten him. On the night of Julien's tenth wedding anniversary, he receives a message from Sophie, indicating that the game is back on. Julien meets Sophie at her home to find that she, as a dare, has staged a burglary and framed him for it. Pursued by the police, an overjoyed Julien speeds away in his car as he proclaims that their game is "better than life itself". After Julien survives a car crash, he and Sophie finally reunite, despite the protestations of their spouses. The film has two alternate endings, which are shown consecutively. In the first, Julien and Sophie decide as an ultimate dare to finally fulfill their "dream of an endless love"—the pair embrace as they stand in a construction pit that is about to be filled with cement. The couple kiss while encased in a block of concrete, on top of which the tin box rests partly sunk. The other ending has the now aged Julien and Sophie in a retirement home where they carry on playing their game, including Julien urinating in front of a staff member.