Marat / Sade

Rating:
Summary: We're All Normal, and We Want Our Freedom
Review: What a joy to see this revolutionary work finally available on DVD! British filmmaker Peter Brook takes the stark, naturalistic visual style he applied so effectively in his rendition of "Lord of the Flies", and envisions yet another society run amok - This time around, in the bathhouse turned theater of the absurd of the infamous asylum of Charenton, in which the even more infamous Marquis de Sade spent the last ten years of his life.

The time setting is post-revolutionary France; the Age of Enlightenment, and of liberation. Or is it? This ragtag troupe of performers, consisting of paranoiacs, melancholiacs, perverts, schizos and all around "social lepers" seem to be the casualties of the Renaissance, creating the perfect metaphor of this filmed play-within-a-play. The radical ideals of the revolutionary Jean-Paul Marat are pitted against the more cynical logic of author de Sade, amidst a sea of churning madness, resulting in an unsettling, confrontational and subversive work which poses uncomfortable questions about the good intentions that bring about social change.

By turns icily philosophical and gut-level emotional, this was probably the first play/film to portray the Marquis de Sade as more of a political figure than the mere depraved smut peddler history had painted him. Patrick Magee delivers an unforgettable portrait of the Marquis; Glenda Jackson's twitching, lurching Charlotte Corday is an equally memorable film debut; Ian Richardson's Marat is intense, haunting and tormented; and the Royal Shakespeare Company's supporting cast of "inmates" is disturbingly convincing.

Perhaps more potentially controversial at the time of its release in 1966, the era of Vietnam disillusionment, Marat/Sade still does a great job of exposing the wrinkles in our supposedly more evolved age, and as such remains a strong and timely work. Please note: there are TWO DVD versions available ..... this one is the widescreen transfer, it looks and sounds immaculate, and if you are as much a fan of this film as I am, you are in for an ecstatic viewing experience. So do not be alarmed by the claims of other reviewers bemoaning a grainy pan-and-scan transfer. Also. contrary to what another viewer wrote, this movie was NOT filmed on the New York stage, though that's what it was intended to look like. The multiple perspectives created by director Brook mirror the socio-philosophical multiple perspecives portrayed by playwright Weiss, which work well together to give this title its provocative punch. A primal scream that will echo in the thinking person's mind for some time, Marat/Sade boasts flawless performances, hallucinogenic cinematography and yes, even a smattering of catchy tunes ..... a richly satisfying film on several levels, for the more cerebrally adventurous.

Rating:
Summary: We're All Normal, and We Want Our Freedom
Review: What a joy to see this revolutionary work finally available on DVD! British filmmaker Peter Brook takes the stark, naturalistic visual style he applied so effectively in his rendition of "Lord of the Flies", and envisions yet another society run amok - This time around, in the bathhouse turned theater of the absurd of the infamous asylum of Charenton, in which the even more infamous Marquis de Sade spent the last ten years of his life.

The time setting is post-revolutionary France; the Age of Enlightenment, and of liberation. Or is it? This ragtag troupe of performers, consisting of paranoiacs, melancholiacs, perverts, schizos and all around "social lepers" seem to be the casualties of the Renaissance, creating the perfect metaphor of this filmed play-within-a-play. The radical ideals of the revolutionary Jean-Paul Marat are pitted against the more cynical logic of author de Sade, amidst a sea of churning madness, resulting in an unsettling, confrontational and subversive work which poses uncomfortable questions about the good intentions that bring about social change.

By turns icily philosophical and gut-level emotional, this was probably the first play/film to portray the Marquis de Sade as more of a political figure than the mere depraved smut peddler history had painted him. Patrick Magee delivers an unforgettable portrait of the Marquis; Glenda Jackson's twitching, lurching Charlotte Corday is an equally memorable film debut; Ian Richardson's Marat is intense, haunting and tormented; and the Royal Shakespeare Company's supporting cast of "inmates" is disturbingly convincing.

Perhaps more potentially controversial at the time of its release in 1966, the era of Vietnam disillusionment, Marat/Sade still does a great job of exposing the wrinkles in our supposedly more evolved age, and as such remains a strong and timely work. Please note: there are TWO DVD versions available ..... this one is the widescreen transfer, it looks and sounds immaculate, and if you are as much a fan of this film as I am, you are in for an ecstatic viewing experience. So do not be alarmed by the claims of other reviewers bemoaning a grainy pan-and-scan transfer. Also. contrary to what another viewer wrote, this movie was NOT filmed on the New York stage, though that's what it was intended to look like. The multiple perspectives created by director Brook mirror the socio-philosophical multiple perspecives portrayed by playwright Weiss, which work well together to give this title its provocative punch. A primal scream that will echo in the thinking person's mind for some time, Marat/Sade boasts flawless performances, hallucinogenic cinematography and yes, even a smattering of catchy tunes ..... a richly satisfying film on several levels, for the more cerebrally adventurous.

Rating:
Summary: Good but dated
Review: Yes, I agree with Maltin and your New York contributor : the DVD contains some excellent performances by Jackson, Magee and Richardson but it's not only the soundtrack and the picture quality (neither of which are the clearest) which date both the play and the film. The brechtian characterisations and declamations do get a bit wearing after a while and would probably seem anachronistic even in the theatre these days. So, worth watching, but like so many experiences from one's student days, not quite up to the memory.