By EWAN McDONALD
(Herald rating: * * * * )
You know you've made it when a word is named for you. But don't expect this to be a how-to guide to sadism: the notorious French aristocrat and writer has been toned down for popular moviegoers' consumption and presented, rather like Larry
Flynt in another biopic, as a defender of sexual and literary freedom.
The film mostly takes place after the depraved Marquis de Sade (Geoffrey Rush) has once again gone too far for his times, or any times. In 1801, after 27 years in prisons, the 61-year-old is locked in an insane asylum.
The priest, Abbe Coulmier (Joaquin Phoenix), thinks the marquis should continue his writing to purge himself of his appalling fantasies.
The manuscripts are smuggled out by a jolly laundry maid, Madeleine (Kate Winslet), and become the talk of upper-crust Paris before Napoleon assigns a physician, Royer-Collard (Caine, again) to crack down. The new man's sadistic measures bring out the best in de Sade, who outsmarts him and remains unbroken almost to the moment of his death.
Outstanding performances. A literary script. An elegantly wasted movie.
Running time: 123 mins
Rental: Today
