Together with “Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom,” Austrian filmmaker Michael Haneke named this movie as one of the only two examples of adequately presented sexuality in the movies. It was first screened at the Old Compton Street cinema club in Soho, London in 1977, in an uncut form and without certification from BBFC secretary James Ferman; the premises were raided by the Metropolitan Police after a few days. [7] The manuscripts were seized by French authorities and were due to be returned to their investors before going to auction. 370 Members. Hello! [65] In 2011, The Criterion Collection released a newly restored version on Blu-ray and DVD in conjunction with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as a two-disc release with multiple interviews collected on the accompanying second disc. Commits suicide during the final day. During the many days at the palace, the four men devise increasingly abhorrent tortures and humiliations for their own pleasure. [52], The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports a 73% approval rating based on 37 reviews, with an average rating of 6.55/10. By far the most depraved of the four; a murderer, rapist, and general criminal. The novel takes place over five months, November to March. Sade incited a riot among the people gathered outside when he shouted to them that the guards were murdering inmates; as a result, two days later on 4 July 1789, he was transferred to the asylum at Charenton, "naked as a worm" and unable to retrieve the novel in progress. There are no characters with which to sympathize or get to know. Umberto Chessari – First a victim but later recruited off-screen as a collaborator, and replaces Ezio after he is shot. Part of that is due to the fact that the majority of the action takes place in a gorgeous palace. The novel is set out to a strict timetable. Killed in the end. Series. [6], However, the long scroll of paper on which it was written was found hidden in the walls of his cell where Sade had left it, and removed two days before the storming by a citizen named Arnoux de Saint-Maximin. Fandango FANALERT® Sign up for a FANALERT® and be the first to know when tickets and other exclusives are available in your area. When one of the victims, Lamberto, refuses, the Magistrate whips him and tortures the President's daughter by tricking her into eating a slice of cake containing nails. Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom, 1975. Raped and killed at the end. [72], In 2008, British opera director David McVicar and Swiss conductor Philippe Jordan produced a performance of the Richard Strauss opera Salome (1905) based on the film, setting it in a debauched palace in Nazi Germany, for the Royal Opera House in London, with Nadja Michael as Salome, Michaela Schuster as Herodias, Thomas Moser as Herod, Joseph Kaiser as Narraboth, and Michael Volle as Jokanaan. Like his cohorts, he has been responsible for several murders. "The 120 Days of Sodom and Other Writings by Marquis de Sade" is a collection of writings by Marquis de Sade along with two essays about his work that examine his philosophy and importance in literature. Fabrizio Menichini as The Collaborator; another teenager and quiet soldier recruited at the beginning of the film. ― Marquis de Sade, The 120 Days of Sodom. Madame Duclos, 48, witty, and still fairly attractive and well-kept. Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom is currently rated 6.5 stars on the ReelBugs scale. [41] In 1994, an undercover policeman in Cincinnati, Ohio, rented the film from a local gay bookstore and then arrested the owners for "pandering". Victim of the collaborationists and the Magistrate. Synopsis SALO, OR THE 120 DAYS OF SODOM, 1975, MGM Repertory, 117 min. In the end, he is branded and killed. After that, the remaining three parts are written as a draft, in note form, with de Sade's notes to himself still present in most translations. That said, this is a vacuum, one absolutely bereft of pleasure or value. Becomes drunk with the power over others as a collaborator and start to act like the other fascists (for example aiming at his former victim friends and saying "ue, culattoni!" In 1997, special permission was granted for the film to be screened uncut at a film festival. Since then, it has been translated into many languages, including English, Japanese, Spanish, Russian, and German. Umberto Paolo Quintavalle as The Magistrate; mustachioed. A victim of the bullying of the collaborationists and the studs. There are therefore a number of recurring figures, such as a man who, in the early tales, enjoys pricking women's breasts with pins and, at his reappearance in the tales in the 'murderous passions' category, delights in killing women by raping them atop a bed of nails. Film scholar Mattias Frey notes that the cross-section between the film's thematic content and graphic visuals has resulted in it being considered both a horror film as well as an art film: "[Films like Salò], which are usually considered by critics as 'works' by the 'artists'...might be received in practice also by individuals who watch Saw or Hostel or any 'popular' or cult horror film. In this introduction, he contradicts himself, at one point insisting that one should not be horrified by the 600 passions outlined in the story because everybody has their own tastes, but at the same time going out of his way to warn the reader of the horrors that lie ahead, suggesting that the reader should have doubts about continuing. Laura Betti was also going to play Signora Vaccari, but also because of legal problems and prior commitments to Novecento declined the role, even though she doubled the voice of Hélène Surgère.