Sade

In its quiet, literate way, the film is almost as subversive as its central character.

Embellished but triumphant.

Auteuil gives a superior performance. While Rush played him as a buffoon, Auteuil gives the character the charm of an aristocratic savant.

In any case, this is the image of the marquis we would know had he been handled by a top publicity team.

If you're looking for thrills, you should know that you have to wade through a good seven-eighths of the movie before Sade does anything remotely disreputable, and even then it's a rather mechanical bit of business that would have been more effective (and more disturbing) if it had been handled with a bit of humor.

Although the movie adheres more closely to history than "Quills," it lacks dramatic punch and depth.

Achieves the near-impossible: It turns the Marquis de Sade into a dullard.