Salo, Or The 120 Days Of Sodom (DVD)

When I first read marquis de Sade’s The 120 Days of Sodom, I said to myself, now this is a novel that can never be turned into a film; that was before knowing anything about Pasolini. The original text tells the story of four rich, depraved middle-aged men who decide to have a sexual experiment in one of their castles. They take their wives, who are their daughters too, 8 girls, 8 boys, 4 studs, 4 procuresses, and do with them whatever they like, ...
...not taking place in eighteenth century France, but rather in a place called Salo during the Fascist rule. The unfinished book is divided into four parts: November; the simple passions, December; the complex passions, January; the criminal passions, and February; the murderous passions. As for the film, Pasolini, creatively, chose to divide it into three sections following Dante’s Inferno; these are the Circle of Manias, Circle of Shit and Circle ... more

When I first read marquis de Sade’s The 120 Days of Sodom, I said to myself, now this is a novel that can never be turned into a film; that was before knowing anything about Pasolini. The original text tells the story of four rich, depraved middle-aged men who decide to have a sexual experiment in one of their castles. They take their wives, who are their daughters too, 8 girls, 8 boys, 4 studs, 4 procuresses, and do with them whatever they like, sexually speaking. The film tells the same story, but as not taking place in eighteenth century France, but rather in a place called Salo during the Fascist rule. The unfinished book is divided into four parts: November; the simple passions, December; the complex passions, January; the criminal passions, and February; the murderous passions. As for the film, Pasolini, creatively, chose to divide it into three sections following Dante’s Inferno; these are the Circle of Manias, Circle of Shit and Circle of Blood.

This is probably the most controversial film of all time. But why? Probably because those people who think it is revolting did not actually read Sade’s book and noticed how mild the film is in comparison to the book. Yes, the film includes “perverted” passions in its first section, coprophilia (eating excrement as a sexual practice) in its second section, and different forms of torture in its final section, but the book presents much more. The unfinished novel which was meant to be massive almost leaves nothing for imagination. If you try to write the names of the sexual practices that are included in the book, you will be amazed by the diversity. The 117-minute film can never present all these. Still, while one of my friends told me laughingly that it is a crazy movie, many people will find it simply revolting; I did not. I was not shocked by the film in anyway; only the novel surprised me a little, perhaps because I read Sacher-Masoch’s, after whom masochism was called, Venus in Furs before reading Sade’s novel, and thought they would be the same. Boy, was I wrong!

Sade tells his readers frankly, and barefacedly if you will, that his book is erotic, and it is meant to meet every reader’s preferences. The focus is desire and sex; the kind of selfish lust that sees everything as justifiable as long as the end, namely orgasm, takes place. The film is not erotic at all. Rather than being aroused, you might suffer in different ways really. The “perversion” won’t appeal to your morals, the “revolting” images might make you want to puke, and the tortures will stab those nice humane ones of you.

So, why should we watch it you say? In fact, this review is meant for those of you who are not offended easily, and probably even more for those who managed to read Sade’s novel and still manage to go on living without noticeable losses. Otherwise, don’t watch it.

But why should we watch this film, even if we don’t get offended easily? To start with, the novel, which was banned for a long time, if you can manage to forget about the sadism in it, which is not the only thing in the book by the way, can put you face to face with the “dark side” in you, and I think this is a good experience. Let me put the truth this way, jokingly, don’t you at times imagine something but feel bad about how dirty this idea was? We all do.. well, reading the book will make you realize you are an angel. So, you’ll ask: what if my ideas were filthier than the ones in the book? Then you would not be reading anything; you would simply end in a prison or a lunatic asylum. The film is different; it politicizes the pornographic book. Some people view even Sade’s novel as a way to justify the French revolution; if you see how brutal the aristocrats were, you’ll see the revolutionists’ “revenge” as justified. Still, the film makes you much more aware of the political side of the story. Thus, the movie, if you will, gives you “more than sex”, as some people put it.. but isn’t sex enough? Anyway, the point is, if you actually manage to forget about the “disgusting” practices in the film, you will find in it some significant ideas that Sad’s novel was not developed enough to have. Some hints would be: notice for instance the pianist’s suicide and the ending in which a couple of young men discuss love.

Thinking of it, perhaps I want the film to be as daring as Sade’s book instead of covering sex with politics, yet I think Pasolini is justified in doing so. After all, still in 2007, some people find it difficult to accept even the political message in it when it’s accompanied by all these “revolting” sexual practices.

How can be the weak special effects helpful? Normally, I don’t like violent scenes, but I didn’t mind them in this film for they are not professional enough to look real; after all the film is more than 30 years old.

Just as a footnote, does it make you feel better to know that Sade wrote this book because he couldn’t do as the four men did? He discovered that people have personalities of their own, and that if he forced a woman to stay with him, she will escape, and that if he forced prostitutes to do something, they will report him to the police. Is it good to know that even Sade knows that this is just an exaggerated image of enslavement? Hope it does. As for Pasolini, he didn’t have the chance to know the effect of his work much, for he was killed soon after finishing it, and thereby, unfortunately, prevented from completing his trilogy of death.

To conclude, there is no way to convince you to like this film, and this is definitely not the aim of my review. Each one of you knows what they can tolerate, and whether this experience is worth it or not. For me, this is one of the films that I waited eagerly for more than a month for LoveFilm to send it to me, and it is definitely one of the films that I will never forget. Still, maybe it is too early to appreciate such a film.. who knows in 100 years from now, this might belong to sweet folklore.

►►►Main menu:

1. Play Film
2. Select Chapter
3. Extras:

(1) Director’s Forward: (it is very interesting to know what Pasolini had in mind when he created his film which he described as a mad dream)
(2) Director’s Biography
(3) Poster Gallery
(4) Salo Weblink
(5) Also Available

►►► Price in Amazon: from 24.99. 

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