A Dramatically Compelling, Creative And Artful Film." -Variety

Love and hate. Genius and madness. Pleasure and pain. Like heaven and hell, they are inextricably connected. But what tortuous demons lurk within these boundaries, threatening to consume the soul of any who come too near? Keir Dullea (2001: A Space Odyssey) and Oscar® winner John Huston star in this "ornately splendid, extravagantly produced" (Hollywood Citizen - News) film about the man who made this errant realm his own: the notorious Marquis de Sade.

"Man is not seduced to evil, he is evil." This is the creed of de Sade, and he reaffirms it daily as he exacts his sexual pleasure from the tender flesh of the women of France. But he was not always a purveyor of corruption and depravity. He was once a young boy - honest, innocent... and about to become the victim of another's perverse brutality.