Cinema: A Child’s Garden of Sade

It all started because the Marquis de Sade had a lousy home life. His uncle, the abbe (John Huston), gave him mighty whuppings in the stable. His mother-in-law (Lilli Palmer) fooled him into marrying her ugly daughter, then quickly began to make untoward advances of her own. Small wonder Sade went so quickly to seed, consorting with low women and doing mean things to them. “But it hurts,” protests one of his lady friends. “Of course it hurts. That’s what gives me pleasure,” sneers Sade, just in case anyone in the audience is confused.

The new movie biography called de Sade is also painful. Keir Dullea appears as the troubled marquis, and his vulpine, immobile face helps him to range between anger (“Don’t you ever say ‘Enough’ to me!”) and pitiful pleading (“But if … I changed?”) with indifference. The orgies are only slightly more titillating than a Playboy centerfold, and a good deal less polished. According to this film, the marauis’ most notable contribution to esoteric eroticism was spreading jam on women’s nipples.