Marquis (film)  

From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

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Marquis is a 1989 Franco-Belgian film directed by Henri Xhonneux, based on the life and writings of the Marquis de Sade. All the actors wear animal masks, and their voices are dubbed. There are a few scenes involving clay animation.

The tagline used in the US release was, "A bizarre tale of sex, lust, and the French Revolution."

Plot

Freely inspired by the internment of Marquis de Sade in the Bastille, of which the script and art direction were taken care of by Roland Topor, it merrily mixes historical fact of the French Revolution, and philosophical ruminations of human nature confronted with its basic instincts.

A mix of real life action and animation, the film bathes in an fantasmatic atmosphere where Sade's sadism are toned down by humour.

Talking body parts trope

Marquis features extensive conversations of Sade talking to his genitals (and the genitals talking back to him), other fictions which employ the trope of the talking body parts are Naked Lunch (1959) by William S. Burroughs and the The Indiscreet Jewels (1748) by Denis Diderot.

Summary

In pre-revolutionary France, the canine Marquis de Sade sits in jail working on his writing and having conversations with his penis (which has a face and is named Colin). When Colin is not whining about his need for stimulation and his particular interest in the rat-like bisexual jailer Ambert and espousing his impulsive philosophies, he is criticizing the Marquis' work (some of which is illustrated via clay animation). The Marquis is imprisoned for allegedly raping and impregnating the bovine Justine; the camel-headed priest Don Pompero and the cocky Gaetan De Preaubois try to keep secret the fact that Justine's rapist was actually the King of France. Meanwhile, the revolutionaries prepare to stage a coup and depose the king.

Voices