Another release from Stax Entertainment with their Roger Corman Classics collection label, only this time this made for video version of the infamous writer is not without some merit.
Nick Mancuso does his best Vincent Price impersonation as the infamous Marquis. Imprisoned after his jealous Mother-in-law reads his manuscript for his latest novel of debauchery and perversion, '
120 days of Sodom' . The authorities and the Church are not too happy about this and decide to rid themselves once and for all of all his wicked deeds and embarrassing ways with one swoosh of the guillotine. It seems that the Marquis is more disturbed about loosing his manuscript than his life, so while imprisoned he uses his own blood as his ink and starts re-writing what will immortalise him.
Enter Justine (Janet Gunn); the sister of a missing actress whom she believes was last seen with the Marquis. She goes to the authorities to ask to speak to their famous prisoner and she is refused. Using her charm she bribes the jailers and from the other side of a set of bars starts a daily affair with the Marquis to obtain information of the whereabouts of her sibling.
The Marquis agrees to tell Justine everything but only if she will be his scribe, his cell is constantly searched and his writings must be told and saved. In reward for this deed everything about her sister, Juliette (Charlotte Neilson) will be told. The tale of
‘120 Days of Sodom’ is re-told and re-written with the movie having flashbacks to how de Sade was imprisoned to the seduction and torture of a young actress, perhaps Juliette. Justine finds this most uncomfortable but as the Marquis tells tales of sexual depravity and torture and sadomasochism she is drawn to him in more ways than one.
Day-by-day the Marquis recounts his tale, day-by-day he is getting nearer his date of execution, and holds on to Justine by withholding the information of her sister, or rather her sister unfolds as the main character in his tale. For the most this movie is shown from either side of the prison bars and the two mains do well to keep your attention in a French Revolution ‘Silence of the Lambs’ kind of way.
For a straight to video release the acting is pretty decent and the costumes and setting are well detailed to the period of the tale. The only problem with this is that this tale has been told often and better too. This is not as dramatic as Philip Kaufman’s
‘Quills’ (2000) for instance or as delicious or as deviant as Henri Xhonneux’s
‘Marquis’ (1989), which I must admit is the only time I have witnessed someone being sodomised by a lobster, or was that a crayfish ? So for all its whips and nudity, Gwyneth Gibby's version is perhaps a little too tame for this scandalous writer but is not a waste of time for an enjoyable, if modest, evenings watch.
The only extra on the disc is a trailer.
'Marquis de Sade' is out to own now and available via
AmazonUK and via
Amazon .
You can read more about the DVD in our
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