Watching: Everything you always wanted to know about Sade

Overview

As admired as he was controversial, Sade is a doubly scandalous figure: through his actions and his writings, veritable catalogues of sexual perversions. Imprisoned in the 18th century, vilified, condemned to clandestine publications, "the divine marquis" has become synonymous with a condemned sexual practice: sadism. Sade, however, would be partially rehabilitated, would greatly influence French intellectuals, and would be lauded by the greatest figures: from Baudelaire to Giacometti, from Pasolini to Simone de Beauvoir. Today, some even go so far as to consider Sade a feminist figure. To mark the acquisition of the manuscript of "The 120 Days of Sodom" by the National Library of France, "Le Doc Stupéfiant" offers a unique portrait of a libertine without limits.