Marat/Sade leaves me at a crossroad: it’s an amazing musical about Jean-Paul Marat, it captures all the contradictions, excesses and glories of the Revolution, it tells the historical event in a way that feels true to the man and his time. However, I think that the Marquis de Sade is underutilized and I dare say wasted as a character. Something very particular about his writings is the biting irony, the parody, the larger-than-life quality that makes it hard to tell when he’s being serious or not. This Sade feels too austere for the libertine we all know and... tolerate, and it would’ve been interesting to see a contrast between his limitless hedonism and Marat’s moral absolutes, and how their ideas, though different, end up leading to the same result, the loss of the individual. It’s the kind of opposite so extreme that the line becomes a circle, and when I first heard about the movie’s premise, it was kind of the outcome I was expecting. But anyway, the part about Marat, wonderful; as for Sade, well, his books are always there if you want (or dare) to learn more.
Marat/Sade leaves me at a crossroad: it’s an amazing musical about Jean-Paul Marat, it captures all the contradictions, excesses and glories of the Revolution, it tells the historical event in a way that feels true to the man and his time. However, I think that the Marquis de Sade is underutilized and I dare say wasted as a character. Something very particular about his writings is the biting irony, the parody, the larger-than-life quality that makes it hard to tell when he’s being serious or not. This Sade feels too austere for the libertine we all know and... tolerate, and it would’ve been interesting to see a contrast between his limitless hedonism and Marat’s moral absolutes, and how their ideas, though different, end up leading to the same result, the loss of the individual. It’s the kind of opposite so extreme that the line becomes a circle, and when I first heard about the movie’s premise, it was kind of the outcome I was expecting. But anyway, the part about Marat, wonderful; as for Sade, well, his books are always there if you want (or dare) to learn more.
