SADE ----
In 1794, the French Revolution is raging and the Marquis de Sade (Daniel Auteuil, "The Closet") once again finds himself imprisoned because of his scandalous literary works. This time, his mistress Sensible (Marianne Denicourt, "Me Without You") has paved his way to the relative freedom of Picpus and its luxury for hire by taking up with Fournier (Gregoire Colin, "Beau Travail"), a Robespierre (Scali Delpeyrat) follower. There de Sade is intrigued by an innocent with a lively intellect, Emilie de Lancris (Isild Le Besco, "Girls Can't Swim"), who is drawn to the libertine like a moth to a flame in Benoit Jacquot's ("The School of Flesh") "Sade."
Featuring a dangerously seductive performance from the great Daniel Auteuil, "Sade" covers the same period as Kaufmann's "Quills" with more unsettlingly realistic results. This is the down and dirty telling, much like the French "The Return of Martin Guerre" as compared to its American
remake "Sommersby."
De Sade arrives at Picpus impervious to the cold reception his reputation garners from the other aristocratic inmates. His outrageous statements in the communal dining hall incite sparring retorts from Emilie, as religious Madame de Lancris (Dominique Reymond, "Les Destinees") shrinks and the Viscount de Lancris (Jean-Pierre Cassel, "La Ceremonie") casts a disapproving eye. The democratic De Sade makes friends with gardener Augustin (Jalil Lespert, "Human Resources") and receives visits from Sensibile, but soon Emilie also begins to visit on the sly for stimulating discussion.
The decorum begins to break when Parisians complaints about the smell of death
result in the guillotine's move to Picpus' gardens where a trench is dug to hold its victims. The two-faced Viscount's affair with Madame Santero (Jeanne Balibar, "Va Savoir") becomes obvious, the Chevalier (Vincent Branchet)
conducts an openly homosexual lifestyle and De Sade engages the populace for theatrical tableaux. Finally, the face of mortality drives virginal Emilie to De Sade for the conclusion of her education.
"Sade's" best moments are comprised by a trio of one on one conversations between De Sade and Emilie. Auteuil and Le Besco electrify the screen with the thrust and parry of their words. The dark intensity of Auteuil, who proclaims himself too old to engage in his own philosophies, contrasts with the overripe blondness of Le Besco, whom De Sade describes as pastoral. The orgy which takes place when De Sade leads Emilie to a barn, deserted except for the studly peasant Augustin, is more evocative of De Sade's writings
than any scene in "Quills."
Jacquot's film, however, is an uneven affair. The adapted screenplay by Jacques Fieschi and Bernard Minoret begins by introducing all its characters in a confusing jumble. None of the supporting players are able to flesh out their characters. Sensibile, blandly portrayed by Denicourt, is a victim of brutish treatment at the hands of Fournier, for which she's treated with disdain by De Sade. Colin's jealous Fournier inexplicably continues to allow her to support his nemesis.
Benoit Delhomme's ("What Time Is It There?") photography ranges from brilliantly framed and lit scenes, such as the over the shoulder shots building De Sade and Emilie's scenes like a dance, to clumsily handled zoom shots. The film begins in murk with pale faces floating against utter blackness and ends in ordinary daylight, perhaps to suggest Emilie's illumination. Music is kept to a minimum, with harpsichord strains heard at beginning and end, but sound is used provocatively with the buzzing of a fly suggesting decay and decadence, or perhaps the entrapment of Emilie in De Sade's web.
B
For more Reeling reviews visit www.reelingreviews.com
laura@reelingreviews.com robin@reelingreviews.com
========== X-RAMR-ID: 32635 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 756909 X-RT-TitleID: 1106115 X-RT-SourceID: 386 X-RT-AuthorID: 1487 X-RT-RatingText: B
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews