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Movies / On DVD / Sade
Sade

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Sade (2002)

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Reviews Counted:30

Fresh:20

Rotten:10

Average Rating:6.3/10

Rated: Not Rated

Runtime: 1 hr 40 mins

Genre: Foreign Films

Theatrical Release:Apr 26, 2002 Limited

Synopsis: Benoit Jacquot's SADE is a provocative historical drama set during the French Revolution starring Daniel Auteuil as the notorious Marquis de Sade. The film also stars the striking young actress... Benoit Jacquot's SADE is a provocative historical drama set during the French Revolution starring Daniel Auteuil as the notorious Marquis de Sade. The film also stars the striking young actress Isild Le Besco (Girls Can't Swim) who was nominated for a 2002 French Cesar for Most Promising Newcomer.

1794. The Revolution has entered the bloodiest phase of the Terror, and the Marquis de Sade, despite his pro-revolutionary fervor, is once again in prison. The puritanical Robespierre - who is sending thousands to their deaths - sees this aristocrat-turned-agitator, libertine and atheist as "a highly immoral man" and "unworthy of society," so Sade knows his days may finally be numbered. Sade is soon moved to Picpus, a sanitarium where aristocrats can buy temporary respite from the guillotine. Sade's stay has been arranged by a loyal former mistress (Marianne Denicourt) who sleeps with Fournier (Gregoire Colin), a member of Robespierre's inner circle. Fournier despises Sade but pulls strings to increase the Marquis¹ odds of survival for the sake of the woman he loves.

Although he is shunned by the other inmates, to Sade the new accommodations seem like paradise ("a select society, charming women"), at least until Republican soldiers dig a huge pit into which hundreds of headless bodies are tossed. A guillotine is also erected on the convent grounds, but Sade is more interested in Emilie (Isild Le Besco) the fresh-faced daughter of a Viscount. She is both repelled and attracted to Sade's philosophy of the bedroom. However, as the guillotine looms for them all, she grows determined to experience sensual pleasure before her death. -- © Empire Pictures [More]

Starring: Daniel Auteuil, Marianne Denicourt, Jeanne Balibar, Gregoire Colin

Starring: Daniel Auteuil, Marianne Denicourt, Jeanne Balibar, Gregoire Colin, Maiwenn Le Besco, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Jalil Lespert, Dominique Reymond, Sylvie Testud, Daniel Martin

Director: Benoit Jacquot

Director: Benoit Jacquot
Screenwriter: Jacques Fieschi, Bernard Minoret
Producer: Patrick Godeau
Composer: Francis Poulenc
Studio: Empire Pictures

[See More Credits]

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Release:

Dec 9, 2003

No Details Exist
 
 

Reviews for Sade

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1 - 20 (sorted by fresh rating)
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Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/06/05
Film Threat

That the film opens with maggots crawling on a dead dog is not an out of place metaphor.

Full Review Source: PopcornQ | comment Comment
04/26/02
Brandon Judell
Brandon Judell
PopcornQ

It is intensely personal and yet -- unlike Quills -- deftly shows us the temper of the times.

Full Review Source: Jam! Movies | comment Comment
04/04/01
Bruce Kirkland
Bruce Kirkland
Jam! Movies

No review available.

comment Comment
07/27/08
Cole Smithey
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com

Sade is an engaging look at the controversial eponymous and fiercely atheistic hero.

Full Review Source: Film Journal International | comment Comment
04/30/02
Doris Toumarkine
Doris Toumarkine
Film Journal International

No review available.

comment Comment
08/03/05
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

More concerned with Sade's ideas than with his actions. The movie achieves as great an impact by keeping these thoughts hidden as... [Quills] did by showing them.

Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
08/14/02
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

If you're looking for a smart, nuanced look at de Sade and what might have happened at Picpus, Sade is your film.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
08/09/02
Jonathan Curiel
Jonathan Curiel
San Francisco Chronicle

Rarely has the horror of the Terror been so graphically and effectively evoked.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
04/25/02
Ken Fox
Ken Fox
TV Guide's Movie Guide

Featuring a dangerously seductive performance from the great Daniel Auteuil, "Sade" covers the same period as Kaufmann's "Quills" with more unsettlingly realistic results.

Full Review Source: Reeling Reviews | comment Comment
08/18/02
Laura Clifford
Laura Clifford
Reeling Reviews

In Auteil's less dramatic but equally incisive performance, he's a charismatic charmer likely to seduce and conquer.

Full Review Source: Miami Herald | comment Comment
10/11/02
Marta Barber
Marta Barber
Miami Herald

[A] treacherously seductive and highly disturbing film...

Full Review Source: Flick Filosopher | comment Comment
08/08/04
MaryAnn Johanson
MaryAnn Johanson
Flick Filosopher

This time out, [Sade] is an unsettlingly familiar figure -- in turns loyal and deceitful, responsible and reckless, idealistically selfless and coldly self-interested.

Full Review Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | comment Comment
12/19/02
Nick Carter
Nick Carter
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

A fiercely clever and subtle film, capturing the precarious balance between the extravagant confidence of the exiled aristocracy and the cruel earnestness of the victorious revolutionaries.

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/23/02
Rich Cline
Rich Cline
Film Threat

The reason to see “Sade” lay with the chemistry and complex relationship between the marquis (Auteil) and Emilie (Le Besco).

Full Review Source: Reeling Reviews | comment Comment
08/21/02
Robin Clifford
Robin Clifford
Reeling Reviews

In its quiet, literate way, the film is almost as subversive as its central character.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
04/26/02
Stephen Holden
Stephen Holden
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

There has always been something likable about the Marquis de Sade.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
06/07/02
Stephen Hunter
Stephen Hunter
Washington Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Sade is Quills without the hyperbole and melodrama.

Full Review Source: Dallas Morning News | comment Comment
03/06/03
Tom Sime
Tom Sime
Dallas Morning News

Director of photography Benoit Delhomme shot the movie in delicious colors, and the costumes and sets are grand.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
04/26/02
V.A. Musetto
V.A. Musetto
New York Post

It's a rosy coming-of-age romp that refuses to see the horror even in the severed heads from the guillotine.

Full Review Source: Boston Globe | comment Comment
08/30/02
Wesley Morris
Wesley Morris
Boston Globe
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
 
 
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