From my favorite movies..

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Perhaps because I am old, and lived through the 60s, and was a French major - I think in order to truly understand this play you have to truly understand the revolution of the 60s vis a vis the French Revolution. In both instances the participants thought they were doing the best thing possible for all the people, and in both instances the participants lost sight of their original goals. Jean Paul Marat is ultimately vilified for the people he killed, just as the Black Panthers, the Weathermen, the Yippies and other groups; and in the end, regardless that their actions hurt more than they helped, everyone was trying to do their best for the people. I mean to say, Marat is a pathetic character, condemned by nature to suffer his last days with a debilitating skin disease. In the case of the 60s radicals, we have been condemned to see the world we envisioned turn away from our ideals and turn us into caricatures and stand up routines. At least those of us who didn't wind up going to prison or dying outright. The play is wonderful, and speaks truth through the mouths of those condemned to an insane asylum. We are forced to re-evaluate our notion of insane.

This is one of a number of films that came out in the late 60s early 70s that challenged society at the time. Others I can think of include A Clockwork Orange, Women in Love and The Devils (the latter, almost impossible to get on DVD these days, but I have a copy!).I had not seen Marat/Sade for decades until my daughter (doing a degree in drama production) found her university making a production of it with she cast in the Glenda Jackson role. I managed to find a copy of the DVD and we watched it several times together. She was so blown away she nearly quit the part because of the perceived difficulty.This is not an easy production to watch and its intensity profound, its finale frightening. The acting, particularly Patrick Magee, is spell binding.Others have commented on plot and substance but in my mind they are secondary to the sheer brilliance of concept, screenplay, and execution. This is a production for theatre people. The casual viewer will be bored. But IMHO one of the great works of all time.

This takes place in 1808 in an insane asylum. The Marquis de Sade (Patrick Magee) puts on a play of an assassination for an audience. He uses the other inmates as actors. Things slowly get out of hand leading to a truly horrifying ending.I first caught this way back in 1980 at a center for adult education. It was a video of the movie shown for free. The picture was murky and the sound was terrible. Still I sat through it. I just caught it again (over 20 years later) on cable. This time I could see and hear it clearly. I'm not going to pretend that I understand what this is about, aside from the basic premise about a bunch of inmates putting on a play, and I do know it was based on a stage play. Still, I watched all 2 hours. The acting is great across the board but Magee, Ian Richardson and Glenda Jackson (in her major film debut) are exceptional. The movie is disturbing--I realize these are all actors playing roles but they're so good that you believe everything you're seeing. The direction also is masterful--it opens up the play cinematically. It has an R rating but that's mostly for subject matter and a brief nude scene with Richardson. This isn't for everybody--some people will be bored silly by it--but for those who like challenging movies this fits the bill. The ending is very disturbing. I give it a 7.

Part of the reason what makes this movie so unique is the actors & actresses having to act like their in a asylum and from what conditions they (inmates/patients) have and to act with those conditions. this movie really moved me it was so realistic like i was there. the camera work played the eyes of what you saw as not all inmates had really a role they were the background sound effects or group to in-act the story as they were in a steamer room/wash room and the room was well used. once in a while as the actors inmates characters comes out of character and towards the end of the movie the inmates becomes out of control. you got to like it as De Sade plays as play director. DID they really have Woman and Men Together in a Insane Asylum back in the early 19th century? I didn't know there was piping like that in the steam room/washroom back in 1808.? OH by the way one of the three narrator's looks like gram-pa from the the TV series the Munsters as this movie was made in 1967 it could very well be if you like plays or poetry or a rhythmics acting this is a movie for you