| The year is 1814 and the Marquis de Sade is a patient in the Charenton Asylum. He has been in there for some time due to his writings, which are pornographic stories according to Napoleon and his France. However, a chambermaid in Charenton, Madeleine, smuggles out manuscripts and chapters of the Marquis' writings to his publishers. When the words of Justine reach the ears of Napoleon his government is incited to send the Dr. Roner-Collard to 'evaluate' the situation of the Marquis. He goes to Charenton to 'oversee' the work of Abbe Coulmier who is the beloved head of the asylum. Abbe Coulmier is a priest whose methods of curing the patients are more gentle and modern. The inmates play games and paint - Abbe encourages the Marquis to write to purge his thoughts on paper so that they might not rule his life so much. Dr. Collard is a 'repressive-alienist' who takes the stand of whipping and dunking the insane until they are 'cured'. Despite the Abbe's attempts to control the Marquis' writings it procceeds unchecked and becomes public in some different forms. The more the Marquis is censored and deprived of writing utensils, furniture and clothes - th emore he writes. There are side plots about the Abbe and Madeleine as well as Dr. Collard and his wife who is barely sixteen! Freedom is a theme throughout and the Marquis' truimphs over the censors are as crucial to the plot as the actions of Abbe and Madeleine. Passion is all around but it is not the story book kind... |
