Marquis

Plainly gifted film-maker Henri Xhonneux has made an entertainingly bawdy animatronic yarn wherein the unashamedly sinful, Bastille incarcerated Marquis colourfully ruminates upon life's more fleshly pursuits with his remarkably cogent, and uncommonly outspoken reproductive organ! This deliciously deviant and impeccably playful fantasy about the dastardly double-dealing, internecine intrigues, illicit social intercourse and perfectly perfidious peccadilloes of the great and the good are wittily observed and whimsically realised in director Xhonneux's frequently fabulous, literately lewd phantasmagoria. While the ribald drama is set within the murky, Draconian confines of a jail, the joyful film itself is a luminously liberating affair, perhaps even able to uplift more than a viewer's flagging spirits!

i was impressed by the variety of animation techniques in this film. Marquis played at the 'art' movie house in salt lake, which was across the street from where i worked. this was the kind of theater that only played movies for 2 or 3 days, and their schedule only described it as 'animated'.

long story short, i invited a girl to see this as our first date. while i was amazed by the animation and found some of the dialog/situations to be humorous, i felt quite awkward under the circumstances. luckily, she wasn't too offended, and even found the Marquis' talking, um, body part rather cute.

i have tried to find this movie several times over the years, if only to see if it was really as crazy as i recall.

Somewhere along the lines of "The Muppets Take the Bastille" via "Deep Throat", this unusual but lavishly produced film is (very) loosly based on the writings of the Marquis de Sade. Using period costumes and animal masks, the interweaving tales of treachery and deception make for clever intrigue, but the high sexual content (in it's brief release in the USA, it was limited to the "art house" circuit), has hobbled the film's availability.

While not a "porn film" in any real sense, it does reflect the sexual mores of pre-Revolutionary France and features clay-animated dramatizations of sequences from the Marquis' own writings. Let the kids watch "The Lion King" for the umpteenth time, then lock the door and watch this for yourself. Just remember that a film like this would NEVER be made in the USA. You'll have to hunt for this one, so don't bother looking for it in your local Blockbuster.

(Sidenote: The designer of the costumes is a puppeteer for a French children's TV show along the lines of "Sesame Street", and it caused a brief sensation when the film was first released.)

This is an absurd -not in a bad way- interpretation of the imprisonment of the Marquis de Sade with a French revolution framework. not surprising, it is made by Topor, a cartoonist. The storytelling of Sade's life is mixed with his phantasms to make the storytelling unique and interesting. Better than a dry historic rendering.

The movie is made with animatronics, i.e. men in costumes with faces which are animated, and once a while clay animation. Every person is an animal that kinda represents externally his personality. Sade is a dog with a big penis -his head is a brain- with which he argues.

All the characters are perverted in their own way.

Strangely in 1989 it was rated 12 or older, and I think it should be R, it's intellectual, but since there's absurd sex scenes, perversion galore, and some descriptions of Sade's stories that could be quite disturbing.

Technically, I like how the animatronics make this universe work. Very stylish...

There's plenty of films about the Marquis de Sade (their purpose and effectiveness being rather varied); but this one stands out from them all due to it's style and execution...both of which are extremely weird to say the least. The film grabs you right from the start with the bizarre character costumes; but unfortunately doesn't manage to keep the interest throughout, despite a number of very good and amusing ideas. I really do admire what director Henri Xhonneux was trying to do; but unfortunately, the otherworldly style of the film and general artiness leaves it feeling cold and distant long before the end. The film focuses on the Marquis de Sade during his imprisonment in the Bastille. His only desire is to write erotic novels; but there's debauchery going on all around him. A corrupt priest arranges for a woman who was impregnated by the king to be raped by the Marquis de Sade so as to excuse the king, while also stealing the Marquis' literary works to sell for his own profit.

The costumes used in the film are interesting to say the least and are all a cross between humans and some sort of animal. This gives the film a style all of its own, which is very much to its credit. This does, however, leave the story and characters as co-stars; as while the audience is likely to be fascinated by the costumes, the plot is not nearly as interesting; which is unfortunate. I've also got to say that the style didn't really work for me - it's interesting, but inherently ugly; me being a viewer who enjoys visually pleasing aesthetics. The most interesting and original idea in the film has to be the one that sees the lead character talking to his penis; which happens to have it's own face and personality. It works rather well and helps to increase the overall strangeness of the film. There's no shortage of debauchery in the film; although its impact is quelled somewhat by the style, which at times verges on being childish. Overall, this film will certainly be of interest to those that enjoy original films. I'm glad I saw it but wouldn't call it a favourite!