Based on the last years of the life of the notorious pornographic novelist, the Marquis de Sade, the film plays much like one of his stories, full of rich language, the odd bits of sex and some gruesome violence. The Marquis is imprisoned in a lunatic asylum, but still succeeds in smuggling out manuscripts with the help of an infatuated chamber maid, much to the annoyance of his jailer, the abbe, and Napoleon. Napoleon orders an ''assistant'' to go to the asylum to ''help'' the abbe with his problems. The assistant is a cruel and sadistic ''doctor'' who specialises in barbaric ''cures'' for the mentally ill. The Marquis naturally becomes his most important patient...
122 minutes, No persons under 16 (Sex, Nudity, Violence, Prejudice)
Drama, Sex
Geoffrey Rush, Kate Winslet, Joaquin Phoenix, Michael Caine, Billie Whitelaw, Patrick Malahide, Amelia Warner, Jane Menelaus, Stephen Moyer, Tony Pritchard, Michael Jenn, Danny Babington
Director
Philip Kaufman
Screenplay
Doug Wright
Music
Stephen Warbeck
Cinematography
Rogier Stoffers
Sound formats
Dolby Digital
Soundtrack
Available
Made in
2000
Produced by
Fox Searchlight Pictures, Hollywood Partners, Industry Entertainment, Walrus & Associates
Ian Douglas: I see my rating is way below the foreign press. Yes, the acting is good, but the story has nowhere to go and so tends to wander around without getting anywhere. The script closely resembles a De Sade story, so the easily offended should perhaps skip this one.
Barry Maltz (21): Excellent movie. To see him do what he loves till the death being the theme. The skill of the main actor as he is being difnified about the animal like nature of man as a subject was remarkable, as it made me feel in touch with both my animal side and my motivating force.
Frank Kruger (34): It is an offbeat movie that might shock the conservative, but if you look at it from an art sense it is brilliant and unique.
