director: Richard Donner starring: Gregory Peck, Lee Remick, David Warner, Billie Whitelaw, Harley Stephens rated: R synopsis: An American ambassador learns to his horror that his son is actually the literal Antichrist. tomatometer: 85%; 78% (fresh!)
I’ll always admire a film portraying themes as sex and pornography without actually becoming somewhat pornographic itself.
The opening sequence is perfect containing a better plot twist than most thrillers. The Napoleon scene and the torture scene that follows are almost as brilliant introducing the cynical Dr. Royer-Collard (Michael Caine) as a central character. Unfortunately the film mainly continues to fall in standards and the end sequence seems rather forced and unnecessary.
The two oppositional key figures Marquis de Sade (Geoffrey Rush) and Abbe du Coulmier (Joaquin Phoenix) are played equally impressively. I don’t really like the sort of stereotypical portrayal of the insane inmates at Charenton though.
