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In the late 1700s, Sade wrote obscene novels which remain excitingly controversial to this day for their ability to tap into mankind's unbridled passion. Now, 186 years after his death in the Charenton lunatic asylum, he has given birth to two films.
One is French director Benoit Jacquot's Sade, which opens in Toronto today, playing in French with English subtitles. It made its debut here in the Toronto film festival.
Daniel Auteuil, who is bottled lightning and the most underappreciated French actor of his generation, plays Sade during his fifties, at the time of Robespierre's reign of Terror.
The other production is Philip Kaufman's Quills, which opens in Toronto next week, playing in English.
Geoffrey Rush, the Oscar-winner for Shine, plays Sade primarily when the Marquis was in his sixties and early seventies.
The two films could not be more different, and not just because of the choice of language. In tone, performance, design and historical context, they might as well be about different men in different countries. Only through magic, or sorcery, could Auteuil's Sade turn into Rush's Sade within a decade.
So they have to be taken one film at a time (Quills will be reviewed next Friday) and each works separately in its own way.
Set in 1774, Jacquot's Sade is raw, dirty and sexually charged. It is intensely personal and yet -- unlike Quills -- deftly shows us the temper of the times.
Through Sade's eyes, and during his philosophical rants to other nobles imprisoned with him under "'house arrest" at Picpus, a former convent near Paris, we get a feel for the madness that swept over France during the Revolution.
When blood is shed in Sade -- and there are mounds of corpses and severed heads -- viewers understand why as well as how. It is a glimpse into the depths of man's tormented soul.
Meanwhile, Sade masquerades as a romantic jaunt. In the prison convent, the Marquis decides to focus his attentions on a virginal teenager (thrillingly played by Isild Le Besco), who is the daughter of deposed nobles incarcerated with Sade.
Her mind, while untrained, is as keen as Sade's -- and he knows it. Her body, while unsullied, aches for experience before she dies under the razor-sharp blade of the guillotine.
Sade also maintains a relationship with his former lover (Marianne Denicourt) and her son while she strikes a Faustian bargain with one of Robespierre's powerful aides.
Despite too many tangents, the film explores sexuality as an expression of freedom. There are scenes of female nudity, sexual arousal and -- of course -- some sado-masochistic activity when Sade stages a three-way encounter involving himself, the teenager, a virile gardener and a whip. Obviously, this film is not for the faint of heart nor the sexually prudish.
(This film is rated R)