[Quivering Breathing]
[Woman Sighs]
[Man] Dear reader, I've a naughty little tale to tell,
plucked from the pages of history--
tarted up, true--
but guaranteed to stimulate the senses.
The story of Mademoiselle Renare,'
a ravishing, young aristocrat whose sexual proclivities...
ran the gamut from winsome to bestial.
Who doesn't dream of indulging every spasm of lust ?
Feeding each depraved hunger?
Owing to her noble birth,
Mademoiselle Renare was granted full immunity to do just that.'
inflicting pain and pleasure with equal zest.
Until one day...
Mademoiselle found herself at the mercy of a man...
every bit asperver seas she.
A man whose skill in the art of pain...
exceeded her own.
[Gasps]
[Whimpering]
[Gasping]
- [Man Continues Reading] How easily, dear reader, - [ Mademoiselle Gasps ]
- one changes from predator... - No.
- to prey. - [ Crying ]
And how swiftly pleasure is taken from some...
and given to others.
[ Crowd Laughing ]
[Man] There goes another one.
[Mademoiselle Crying]
[ Crowd Shouting ]
[Children Singing, French]
[ Man Chuckling ]
[ Children Continue Singing ]
[Executioner Humming Children's Song]
[Children Continue]
[ Gasps ]
[ Humming Children's Song ]
[ Continues Humming ]
[Writer Continues Humming]
[Woman] Your linens, please.
- [Guard] Move yourself. - [Man] We're going outside.
Come on, Pitou. That's right.
- It's breakfast time. Good morning. - Good morning.
- [Pitou] I'm going outside. - [Guard] Go on.
[ Guard ] Stop doing that. Everybody up.
Your linens, please.
- [ Humming ] - [Laundress] Psst.
- It's me. - [ Stops Humming ]
Careful. The ink's still wet.
Now, hurry.
[Footsteps Departing]
- [Footsteps Approaching] - That you, Maddie ?
Yes, Mother. Here are the dirty ones for you.
[ Sighs ]
Just, uh--
Just taking the bleached ones out to dry.
[Woman] Aren't you gonna give us a hand then ?
[Rooster Crowing]
[Talking, indistinct]
[ Laughs ]
[Man] Bouchon!
Remember your manners.
[Men Laughing]
[ Laughing ]
Here it is. It's the last chapter.
Monsieur Masse says he'd like another manuscript quick as he please.
- He can't print them fast enough. - I'll pass the word on.
I'll pay you another visit with a share of the profits once it's sold.
- I'll be waiting. - Perhaps, one day, you'll tell me your name.
[ Sighs ]
[Man Talking, indistinct]
All right, we're all clear.
- Thank you. - [Hawker] Marquis de Sade's Justine.
Latest edition, straight from the printer's. Justine.
Marquis de Sade. Justine.
[Man] "Our story concerns a nymph named Justine,'
"as pretty a maid as ever entered the nunnery,
- "with a body so firm and ripe... - [Woman] Come on, boy.
"it seemed a shame to commit it to God.
One morning, the bishop placed his hand upon her thigh."
[Man #2] "'Holy Father, 'cried she,
"'I’ve come to confess my sins, not commit them anew. '
"Heedless, the old priest turned her over on his knee...
"and lifted her skirts high above her hips,
"exposing the pink flesh ofher backside.
"There between the orbs ofher dimpled ass...
"lay a blushing rosebud...
"begging to be... plucked.
" Before Justine could wrestle from his grasp,
"this most ungodly man took a communion wafer,
"the body of our Lord, Jesus Christ,
and placed it on the girl's twitching orifice."
Must l, Your Majesty?
"As he loosened his manhood from beneath his robes,
"the bishop muttered a Latin prayer...
"and then, with a mighty thrust,
drove it into her very entrails."
The novel's lewd subject matter and its overripe style...
reveal it to be the work of the Marquis de Sade.
He composes his prose from inside a madhouse.
Enough ! Seize every copy !
We'll torch them all on the palace lawn in full public view !
As for the author, shoot him.
A note of caution, Sire.
We all remember what happened to Robespierre, Danton.
Put the marquis to death and history might even regard you as a despot.
[ Sire ] But I am history.
Of course, Your Majesty.
Never the less, cure the Marquis de Sade,
succeed where countless...
physicians and priests have failed--
No one can fault Napoleon...
for bringing a man to his senses.
Might I suggest...
an appraisal at the asylum of Charenton ?
A rather notorious inmate in her care.
I have the perfect candidate for the job:
Dr. Royer-Collard,
a distinguished alienist who's a staunchly moral man...
of impeccable character...
and iron resolve.
[Man Screams, Water Splashes, Gurgling]
[ Gasping ]
- [Water Splashes] - My colleagues have called me old-fashioned.
- [Gurgling] - Even barbaric.
[ Gasping ]
But here we favor an aggressive course oftreatment.
- [ Gasps ] - Quite.
I do not seek popularity or renown, Monsieur Delbene. Mine is a higher mission.
[ Screams ]
To take God's tiny blunders and those He has forsaken...
and condition them with the same force, the same rigor...
one would employ to train a feral dog or a wild stallion.
- [ Screams, Gurgling ] - This may not be pretty,
but it is mercy just the same.
A few more months of this, and he'll be fine.
- [ Screams, Gurgling ] - [Delbene] lt is the emperor's hope...
that you bring your expertise, your proficiency...
- to the asylum at Charenton. - [Man] I'm much better now.
Charenton? The administrator there is quite well-loved, isn't he ?
He's young, an idealist. You'll have to be politic.
- You know how I define "idealism" ? - [Man Screaming]
Youth's final luxury.
[Man] Not so hard. Don't force it.
Let the quill guide you.
Good.
Slowly.
We mustn't just copy the words.
It's important that we know what they mean.
St. Augustine tells us that angels and demons walk among us on the Earth...
and that sometimes they jointly inhabit the soul of a single man.
Then how can we know...
who is truly good and who is evil ?
Well, we can't.
All we can do is guard against our own corruption.
So you'll practice reading tonight on your own for me ?
'And so the professor lifted Columbe's skirt...
"high above her waist.
"'Let me be your tutor,' said he, 'in the ways of love.'
"With that, he slid her pantalets down,
"down, down over her knees.
'And there, nestled between her legs,
"was pink of the tulip...
as slick as an eel--"
We oughtn't to be reading his nasty stories.
No one's forcing you to listen.
" He gazed upon her Venus mound,
her flaxen quim, the winking eye of God."
You've been in his quarters, haven't you ?
Once or twice.
I hear he's got a whetstone and a chisel, and he uses them to sharpen his teeth.
He's a writer, not a madman.
- What's he doing in here then ? - Murder.
[ Laughing ]
That's not so.
[ All Continue Laughing ]
He writes books so wicked, so black with evil,
that one man killed his wife after reading them.
And two young mothers miscarried their babies.
[Blond Man] I'd say that's murder enough.
If you're going to slander him, then you don't deserve to hear his stories.
I believe she's sweet on him.
- That's what I think. - It's not the marquis she's sweet on, is it, Madeleine ?
[ Girl Laughing ]
[Laughing Continues]
- [ Continues Laughing ] - [Inmate Panting Heavily]
They've no right sending someone to sit on your shoulder.
I work for you. I won't take orders from a stranger.
You needn't worry.
It's administrative, nothing more.
Please don't eat the paint, Pasqual.
Ah, bravo, Dauphin.
It's far better to paint fires than to set them, isn't it ?
Yes.
Wonderful.
[ Opens, Closes Door] Fresh linens.
I'm hungry for a proper visit.
- Don't start. - Go ahead. You've a key.
Slip it through my tiny hole.
[Door Slides Shut]
Marquis ?
Where did you get to then ?
- [Marquis Clears Throat] - [ Gasps ]
[ Sighs ]
Marquis ?
- Well-- Did I frighten you ? - [ Gasps ]
Frighten me ? That's a good one. I'm twice as quick as you are.
I suppose you want to know about that silly book of yours.
What about my book ?
[ Whispers ] It sold like the devil.
Then they started burning it.
That's the peril of composing such incendiary prose.
If only these coins purchased your other talents too.
[ Whispers ] There's something else I want from you.
You've already stolen my heart...
as well as another prominent organ south ofthe equator.
Your publisher says I'm not to leave without another manuscript.
I've just the story.
Inspired by these very surroundings.
The unhappy tale of a virginal laundry lass,
a darling of the lower wards where they entomb the criminally insane.
- Is it awfully violent ? - Most assuredly.
- Is it terribly erotic ? - Fiendishly so.
- [ Laughs ] - But it comes with a price.
A kiss for each page.
Must I administer them directly or might I blow them ?
The price, my coquette, is every bit as firm... as I am.
[ Scoffs ] Oh, you.
You talk the same as you write.
[ Sighs ]
[ Stifled Gasping ]
Hello.
[Humming]
[Woman Panting]
So what are we today, Cleante?
Is it bullfinch or nightingale?
- There's but one kind of bird in a madhouse, Abbe. - Oh, don't tell me.
- A loon. [ Laughing ] - [ Laughing ]
Sorry, I've heard that one before.
[ Bird Chirping ]
- [ Both Gasping ] - It's a long story, this one.
The climax comes at a higher cost.
- You must sit on my lap. - [ Groans ]
- You demand a lot from your readers. - [ Groans ]
The story's thrilling conclusion comes at a premium.
- What's that then ? - Your maidenhead.
And then you must sew it up as tightly as the day you were born,
and come back to me renewed so I can deflower you a second time.
Some things belong on paper...
others in life.
Blessed fool who can't tell the difference--
Mademoiselle LeClerc.
You're in the nick of time.
This old letch forgot himself.
He thought I was a character in one of his nasty stories.
- Madeleine. - Yes, Abbe ?
The next time you feel the urge to visit the marquis...
I hope you'll come to confession instead.
Care for a splash ofwine, Abbe ?
It's not even noon.
Conversation, like certain portions ofthe anatomy,
always runs more smoothly when it's lubricated.
This is a rare vintage from an obscure village in Bordeaux.
Rather than crush the grape underfoot, they place the fruit on the belly of a bride,
reap its juices when the young husband steers his vessel into port.
Full-bodied flavor, just a hint of want on ness.
Bottoms up.
[ Laughs ] It's from our own cellar. I recognize the taste.
I should have told you it was the blood of Christ.
You'd believe that, wouldn'tyou ?
We treat you well enough here, don't we, Marquis ?
Your very own feathered bed in lieu of a straw mat.
Your antique writing desk, all the way from La Coste.
Enough quills to feather an ostrich--
Yes, yes, yes, dear heart, it's true. You spoil me pink.
And in exchange, we ask only thatyou follow the rules.
You know as well as I do, you're not to entertain visitors in your quarters.
I'm entertaining you now, aren't I ?
Yes, but I'm not a beautiful, young prospect ripe for corruption.
Don't be so sure.
[ Laughs ]
Take your pen in hand, Marquis.
Purge these wicked thoughts ofyours on paper.
Maybe they'll govern you less in life.
I'll fill page after page, my cherub.
I promise.
[Horses Whinnying]
[Coachman] We're here, Doctor. Mindyourstep, sir.
Good day, sir. We've been expecting you.
[Singing, lndistinct]
[ Continues Singing ]
[Continues]
Good. Very good.
Dr. Royer-Collard, welcome to Charenton.
This may feel a little awkward, my friend,
but it needn't be.
I've come merely to over see your work here. Understood ?
- Of course. - It's a formality. Truly.
Well, you're a man of science, and I'm a man of God.
Charenton stands to profit from us both, I'm certain.
I shall need an office on the grounds, somewhere to store my things.
- This way. - If you don't mind my asking,
why has the emperor taken such sudden interest in my--
in our affairs ?
It seems a particular patient of yours... has captured his fancy.
[Royer-Collard] l understand he practices the very crimes he preaches in his fiction.
Certainly not here.
- There were a few indiscretions in his youth. - "Indiscretions”?
Abbe, please, I have read his case history.
At 1 6, he violated a servant girl with a crucifix.
After six months in a dungeon, he mutilated a prostitute,
carving her flesh with a razor and cauterizing the wounds with hot wax.
I hope you'll judge him by his progress here,
- No ! - not his past reputation.
I can't go on like this. Why should this be happening to me ?
Once again, gentlemen.
I'm just a lowly cobbler.
I have been all my life.
And with this shoe, I'm asking you to be a cobbler's wife.
It's a dread fulplay, a festering pustule on the face of literature.
Why, the parchment it's written upon isn't worthy to wipe my ass.
[Inmate Laughs]
But you need not make it worse. Say your lines with conviction, my happy little shoemaker.
- Like a true actor. - But I'm not an actor. I'm a dyspeptic.
Just seduce her, you goon !
He's actually made a great success of our little theatre.
There's seldom an empty seat, not to mention its therapeutic value.
Playing dress-up with cretins...
sounds like a symptom ofmadness, not a cure.
Homo perversio: a species that thrives in captivity.
Marquis, this is Dr. Royer-Collard. He's joining us here in--
An advisory capacity.
Welcome to our humble madhouse, Doctor.
I trust you'll find yourself at home.
[ Giggling, Whispering ] There he is, the new doctor.
Tell me, Abbe, why is he in your care and not a proper prison ?
- His wife's influence. - " His wife's" ?
Better to have an insane spouse than a criminal one.
And he has never once tried to escape ?
A man of his notoriety ? He wouldn't last a day on the streets without capture.
Besides, every wholesome thing he might desire, he has at Charenton.'
a library filled with the world's great books,
music lessons, watercolor exercises.
What effect have all these amenities had on his psyche?
He no longer roars or spits.
He no longer taunts the guards or molests his fellow wards.
And his writing ?
- Ah, yes, that. - Well ?
It's essential to his recovery, a purgative for the toxins in his mind.
Do you favor its publication ?
- For sale ? To the general public ? - Yes. Yes.
No, certainly not. It's unprintable.
[Inmate Yelling]
[Groans]
All France is aghast at this book, yet you've never heard of it.
Oh, dear God.
Silence the marquis, or Charenton will be shut down by order of the emperor.
"Shut down"? But he's one among some 200 wards.
You could try my calming chair on him.
Or, perhaps, try bleeding him with leeches.
Or maybe flog him at the stake.
Why ? So he'll learn to fear punishment...
rather than to see virtue for its own rewards ?
Doctor, let me take up this matter with the marquis myself.
- Charenton's my life's work. - I am not without a heart.
But this book is a profound insult to decent people everywhere.
Can you personally guarantee this won't happen again ?
You have my word.
- What is it, Abbe ? - The marquis has embarrassed us.
- From Napoleon himself. - Why ? What's he done ?
He's been slipping manuscripts to a publisher.
- [ Unlocking Cell ] - He has ?
I placed my trust too carelessly, Madeleine.
- This is a complete and utter... - Oh.
disappointment.
Yes, it is.
The paper's cheap. The type's too small.
What did you do, bribe one of the guards ?
But you implored me to write for curative purposes, to stave off my madness.
But you've no right to publish...
behind my back without my sanction.
Have you truly read it, or did you run straightaway to the dog eared pages ?
Oh, enough to discern its tenor.
And ?
It's not even a proper novel.
It's nothing but an encyclopedia of perversions.
Frankly, it even fails as an exercise in craft.
Characters are wooden. The dialogue is inane.
Not to mention the endless repetition ofwords like "nipple" and "pikestaff."
There I was taxed, it's true.
And such puny scope.
Nothing but the very worst in man's nature.
I write of the great eternal truths...
that bind together all mankind the whole world over.
We eat, we shit, we fuck, we kill and we die.
But we also fall in love.
We build cities, we compose symphonies and we endure.
Why not put that in your books as well ?
It's a fiction, not a moral treatise.
But isn't the duty of art to elevate us above the beasts ?
I'd have thought that was your duty, Abbe, not mine.
One more trick like this...
and I'll be forced to revoke all your liberties.
It's that doctor fellow, isn't it ?
He's come to usurp your place here, hasn't he ?
Marquis, more than your writing's atstake.
The ministry has threatened us with closure.
Ah, they can't be serious !
Our future lies in the stroke of your pen.
Mightier than the sword, indeed.
Put yourself in my place. I have your fellow patients to consider.
If Charenton folds, they have no place to go, no manner to clothe or feed themselves.
Fuck them ! They're half-wits ! Let them die on the streets as nature intended !
You among them ?
I fever I showed you a kind hand, Marquis,
I fever I granted you walking privileges on a spring day...
or slipped an extra pillow beneath your door,
I fever I shared your wine, laughed at your vulgarities or humoured you with argument,
then you will oblige me now...
for your sake... and for all Charenton.
You've a touch ofthe poet too.
Perhaps you should take up the quill.
- Do I have your word ? - Honestly, you cut me to the core.
What's the point of all your valiant attempts at rehabilitation...
if, when I finally succumb, when at long last I pledge myself to righteous conduct,
you regard me with nothing but suspicion ?
Have you no faith in your own medicine ?
[Doctor] My, my.
At Charenton, even the walls have eyes.
Don't they ?
Well ?
Well, I spoke to him with reason and compassion,
the tools which serve us best here.
- And ? - He's sworn to obedience.
He's more than a patient, Doctor. The marquis is my friend.
You keep strange company, Abbe.
If you have the matter here truly in hand,
- [Abbe] l have. - then l have a friend ofmy own to visit.
- Ah, Doctor. - I've come for my bride.
- Oh, yes. - [ Horse Whinnying ]
We've not expected you for some time.
Simone has not yet come ofage.
I've taken a new post at Charenton.
- I need the succor only a wife can provide. - Mmm, yes.
Simone...
you remember Dr. Royer-Collard.
I'd not forget the man to whom I was promised.
He's come to collect you.
Today ? This minute ?
I apologize, mademoiselle.
I had no time to write.
Be grateful, child.
In my experience, poor girls who are orphaned never wed.
They wind up spinsters or, worse still, nuns.
- Thank God that fortune has spared you... - [ Nuns Laughing ]
from such a fate.
Good-bye, Simone.
God bless you, Simone.
Let's move it !
[Delbene] The emperor wishes to assure your comfort while at Charenton.
Consider the chateau a gift,
provided you're willing to finance the necessary repairs.
Monsieur Prouix is the court's most promising young architect.
He's at your disposal.
[Rats Squeaking]
Of course, the place hasn't been occupied since the Terror.
It has possibilities, yes ?
Simone ?
I am to live here ?
It belonged to the Duke du Blangie, avowed monarchist.
The Jacobins were most unforgiving.
His wife tried to escape.
They caught her here on the stairs.
Set about her with bayonets.
There but for the grace ofGod, eh, Doctor ?
I shed no tears for the past, Monsieur Delbene. I look to the future.
Monsieur Prouix.
We should quarry fresh marble, don'tyou think ?
You must humour my wife in all things.
If she wants Venetian glass, she shall have it.
Italian tile, Dutch velvet-- Spare no expense.
But in her bedroom, see to it that the door locks from the outside...
and on her windows are iron grates.
Bars, sir ?
In the convent, Simone was spared the world's temptations.
I will not allow her to fall prey to them now.
She is a rare bird.
I intend to keep her caged.
[Footsteps Approaching]
[Door Creaking Open]
Perhaps the sisters...
failed to instructyou...
in the ways of marriage.
The nightly duty...
of a wife... to her husband.
[ Grunting ]
- [Man] No. - [Nun] It's a scandal, truly.
He's a doctor pretending to be a God-fearing man.
And that's not all. He's far too old to marry her, and she's far too young.
- Hasn't finished her schooling. - Whisked away with barely a word.
- And that's not all. - Tell me more.
The sweet little thing is barely 1 6.
I say she's even younger, only a child.
- That's not all the nuns told us. - Tell me more.
Listen to this. [ Whispering ]
[ Laughing ] No.
[ All Gasping ]
- [Whispering] And that's not all. - What else ?
She's no ta coquette. She's meant to be a nun.
- [ Gasps ] - I swear.
- Tell me more. - She came with a statue ofthe Virgin Mary.
[ Continues Whispering, indistinct ]
She arrived with a statue of the Virgin Mary and a crucifix around her neck from a convent.
Hmm. Tell me more.
He's old enough to have fathered her twice over.
The hypocrite.
This has all the makings ofa farce.
[ Humming ]
Abbe de Coulmier, you rascal.
Your comedies are becoming quite the rage. I had to claw my way to a ticket.
- I can hardly take-- - So expertly acted.
That charming young man in last week's comedy--
I had no idea he was an imbecile.
Everyone has talents ifwe look for them.
- Yes, yes, I'm sure. - Oh.
[Woman] lsn't that the new doctor? How thrilling for you.
- A renowned expert right here at Charenton. - [Abbe] Yes, indeed.
I will say one thing for him. He has a beautiful daughter.
[Women Laugh, Continue Chattering ]
[Marquis] Enough ofthis bilge!
We're better than this.
Remember, gentlemen, inside each of your... delicate minds,
your distinctive bodies,
art is waiting to be born !
So let's give the doctor a performance tonight I hope he'll remember forever.
[ Overture ]
[Continues]
That's Madame Bouginal and Mademoiselle Clairel.
And in front of them, the marquis' wife.
Indeed.
[ Grunting, Giggles ]
Begging your pardon, it's time to begin.
[ Overture Concludes ]
You ! You're the north wind.
Madame and monsieurs,
there's been a change in tonight's program.
We will not be performing The HappyShoemaker.
- [Audience Sighs] - Instead,
we'd like to premiere a new play...
in honour of the new leap pointed Dr. Royer-Collard...
and his lovely bride.
- [Audience Applauding] - A comedy entitled--
- Crimes of Love. - The Crimes ofLove.
Written by one of Charenton's very own wards,
the Marquis de Sade !
- [Fanfare] - [Audience Applauding]
[ Madeleine Laughs ]
- Wait. Statue, statue. - There you are.
[Audience Tittering]
[Continues]
[ Laughing ]
Sister Senfone, whither do we go,
passing over rivers, canyons and snow ?
Hurry you, for we must not tarry.
I deliver you now to the man you shall marry.
[Audience Murmurs]
When you have rested, at your leisure,
he will coach you in the ways of pleasure.
[ Audience Chuckling ]
At last, she arrives, my hard-won bride.
[Audience Murmuring, Tittering]
Hurry, my child, and scurry inside.
There you'll find such treasures await you.
Marzipan and meringue to sate you.
Such gallantry in men is sadly a rarity.
How lucky I am to receive his charity.
Thank you, dear sister, for abetting me so,
- bringing her here to this secluded chateau. - Quickly.
-[Madeleine] Stand still and be quiet. - Was that good ?
[Laughs] Little does sheknow that terror's in store...
when I tutor her in les crimes...
de l‘amour.
[ Whispering ] Take this side of the curtain. One, two, three--
[Continues]
Quickly, my suckling, out of your clothes.
My sceptre awaits. How solid it grows.
- Stop it, I beg you. Have pity I say. - [ Audience Gasping ]
You're not my lover. You're a monstrous roue.
- Do as you're told. - [ Audience Laughing ]
-Stick your legs in the air. - Leave at once.
- But it's just begun. - Do as I say.
Madame.
[Pitou Groaning]
It's true, I'm a pig. [ Snorts ]
And you've truffles down there.
[ Audience Gasps, Laughs ]
- Oh, God ! Oh, God, what's this ? - [ Snorting ]
- Such a wicked sensation. - [Snorting Continues]
A feeling somewhere between shame and elation.
- Oh, God ! - [ Laughing ]
Use your tongue like a wand in much the same manner as Sister Semfone.
Leaving already ? Of course, you've seen it all before.
- [Audience Laughing] - [ Laughs ]
[Cleante] l had a suspicion the sister was Sapphic.
I'd tell you more, but it's simply too graphic.
Sufficeit today she's a preference for lasses.
Even at Vespers, she always made passes.
My darling, dainty morsel, get on your back. Let's try it dorsal !
I won't escape. He wants to take me in every way.
I'll plunder every lovely pore till you're weak and cry, " No more !"
- No, more, more ! - [ Laughing Continues ]
Give me this ! More ! More !
[ Whispering ] Everybody, come forward quietly for the next bit.
Then to prove you're truly mine, I'll plunder you, darling, from behind !
Yes, yes, yes, let's do it.
And what of my lips ? Will you soil them too ?
When you've broken every other taboo ?
- [Audience Howling] - [Cleante] ...every slippery hollow.
If you're obliging, then you'll swallow!
[Laughing Continues]
[Dialogue Continues, indistinct]
[Audience Howling, Actors Continue]
- [Building] - [Dialogue Continues, indistinct]
Manners !
[ Muffled Screaming ]
- Now that body has been broken and swollen, - [ Marquis ] Yes !
- [ Audience Laughing ] - [ Bouchon Grunting ]
Lust, power and greed are no longer--
[ Madeleine Gasping ]
Juliette !
[ Screaming ]
[Screaming Continues]
Take him to the infirmary. Maddie ?
- Has he hurt you ? - His breath made my eyes run, that's all.
- [ Crying ] - It's all right.
- [Abbe Shushing Madeleine] - Madeleine ?
Do you mean to take us all down with you ?
Don't be absurd.
[Man Yells] Disgraceful!
It's only a play.
- [ Man Boos ] - [ Applauding ]
That play was filthy.
- [Woman] It was disgusting. - [Applauding, Booing]
I wonder who's to blame, the author or his muse ?
- It was fiction, of course. - Of course.
- It was not inspired by circumstance. - It certainly was not.
You ought to be ashamed, Abbe,
exploiting these pathetic cretins for financial gain.
This is not our intention.
It was a freak show for tourists and curiosity seekers.
Charenton is a sanatorium, not a circus !
The theatre is henceforth closed.
"Closed" ?
As for your friend, playwright emeritus of the madhouse--
I'll do everything in my power--
Do more, or I shall be forced to inform the ministry...
that the inmates are, indeed, running the asylum.
[Driver Cracks Whip, Horses Whinny]
[Coach Departing]
Mmm. Mmm.
Well, I hope you're satisfied.
He shut down our theatre.
He can't do that to me.
[ Scoffs ] How can one man be so selfish ?
We merely held up a mirror.
Apparently, he didn't like what he saw.
- What the devil are you doing with my quills ? - You've left me no choice.
I kept my promise. I didn't publish.
Perhaps, in time, you can earn them back.
You can't.
I've all the demons of hell in my head.
My only salvation is to vent them on paper.
Try reading for a change.
The writer who produces more than he reads--
[ Clicks Tongue ] A sure mark of an amateur.
Here. [ Blows Off Dust ]
Start with the Bible.
It's cheerier and more artfully written.
This monstrous God of yours ? [ Spits ]
He strung up His very own son like a side of veal.
I shudder to think what He'd do to me.
Why are you doing this to me ?
Stop it.
I'll die of loneliness.
I've no company but the characters I create.
Whores and pederasts!
You're better off without them.
- I have a proposition. - You always do.
Madeleine. She's besotted with me.
She'd do anything I asked. She could pay you a visit.
I don't know who you insult more, her or me.
- Part the gates of heaven, as it were. - That's enough !
You're too tense, darling. You could do with a long, slow screw.
Good night, Marquis.
Then bugger me ! Goddamn you, Abbe !
Have you no true sense of my condition ?
Of its gravity ?
My writing is involuntary, like the beating of my heart.
My constant erection !
[Key Unlocking Door, DoorOpening]
I've done just as you bade me.
I've paid a visit to the craftsmen.
He laughed and called me a whore.
Took my money just the same.
I don't know which gives you greater pleasure:
the objects themselves...
or the humiliation I endure procuring them on your behalf.
And last, but not least,
I brought you some aniseed drops...
and some chocolate pastilles.
Did you now, madame ?
They're filled with cream, yes ?
You know I shan't touch them unless they're positively...
bursting,
erupting with cream.
What else have you brought that I might nibble upon ?
- Donatien, you mustn't. - Hmm ?
Tell me. What other little treats ?
Shame on you, truly. [ Gasps ]
For fuck's sake, woman. Bonbons ?
Am I to sit here gorging myself on useless trifles,
sucking on your little sweetmeats,
when what I truly require, what I truly need...
are a few quill pens, perhaps a pot of ink ?
- Forgive me. I beg you. - Don't you see ?
[ Crying ] I've been raped.
- Far more egregiously than any of my wretched characters. - How was I to know, darling ?
How was I to tell you, by writing a letter ?
With what, my asinine bride ?
I beg you, Donatien,
as your wife, your only ally, you must stop making a monstrous spectacle of yourself!
- You have come to lecture me ? - To flaunt your deviance in public upon a stage ?
They have put you up to this, haven't they ?
You should court the doctor's favor, not his contempt.
The doctor ? I ought to carve my name into his backside and fiIl the wounds with salt !
You're here, safe, surrounded by brick and mortar.
My prison is far crueler. It has no walls.
Everywhere I go, they point and whisper.
At the opera, they hiss at me when I take my box.
When I went to church, the priest refused to even hear my confession.
He said I was already damned.
Why must I suffer foryour sins ?
That's the way of all martyrs, isn't it ?
Give me back my anonymity. That's all I ask.
Let me be invisible again.
You tell me, have you ever done anything to secure my release ? No.
Have you petitioned the courts ? Never !
- Sought an audience with the emperor ? - How ? He refuses to see me !
It's a convenience having your husband locked away.
You no longer have to hold your tongue or hoist your skirts...
or crack your mouth so I can put it to its one pleasurable use.
You're not my wife ! No, you're one of my many jailors ! Out !
- What in God's name ? - Take this cow away !
I can't look at her !
Perhaps you'll fiind a place forher in the west wing among the hysterics !
Lock her up as well so she knows how it feels !
[ Yells ] The sow !
[ Crying ]
For a woman of humble origin, your wife has refined tastes.
When I suggest granite for the foyer, she's quick to counter with Peruvian marble.
Peruvian marble. It costs a fortune to import.
Whatever her heart desires, Monsieur Prouix.
I would like nothing better than to grant her every wish, sir,
but on the modest sum you have accorded me--
I'm an architect, not a magician.
[ Panting ] I must see the doctor at once.
It's a matter of dire urgency.
It is customary to write and request an appointment.
Desperation has driven me past etiquette, all the way to frenzy.
My schedule is not subject to the whim oflunatics.
I beg to differ, Doctor. You work in a madhouse.
Your every waking moment is governed by the insane.
I pray you, be succinct.
You're new to Charenton, yes ?
Perhaps you're not yet familiar with my husband and his unusual case.
With all due respect, madame,
all France is familiar with your husband.
Would you grant me a moment alone, please, Monsieur Prouix ?
Humbly so. Your servant, sir.
Uh, gentlemen.
Madame, please.
Good morning, madame.
I assume you've come here to plead forclemency on your husband's behalf.
You do, do you ?
It's my dearest hope, Doctor,
that he remain entombed forever.
And that when at last he perishes in the dank bowels of your institution,
that he be left as carrion for the rodents and the worms.
I stand corrected, madame.
If you can't cure him...
truly cure him...
then at least, I beg you, harness the beast that rages in his soul.
That is not easily done, madame.
You are aware, are you not, that it costs a great deal...
to house your husband at Charenton ?
I pay his stipend every month, far more dutifully than I should.
But that barely covers the cost of his room...