`Marquis': Provocative, Pretentious And Reeking With The Scatological

XX "Marquis," directed by Henri Xhonneux. Concept, art direction and screenplay by Roland Topor, based on the writings of the Marquis de Sade. Grand Illusion. In French with English subtitles. Not rated: Suitable for adults only, contains explicit sex, adult subject matter. ------------------------------------------------------------------- A surprising number of critics have been hoodwinked into thinking "Marquis" is a uniquely ambitious film. In a limited sense it is, and certainly its creative impulse is intellectually valid, if only for those few viewers who will connect with the concept. It's the kind of movie about which obscure graduate theses are written.

But to these eyes and ears, which have been subjected to "Marquis" on two barely tolerable occasions (the first being at the 1990 Seattle International Film Festival), this film operates on the shakiest kind of pretense, offering provocative discourse on art, freedom of expression, and the political atmosphere of the French Revolution, and then exploiting those same themes by wallowing in the most immature variety of scatological indulgence. It is a film for highly educated people who still laugh at pee-pee jokes.

Granted, any film based on the works of the Marquis de Sade won't bear much resemblance to "A River Runs Through It." Loyalty to the source material guarantees a certain amount of bawdy ribaldry, but "Marquis" has little else on its artistic agenda. The compelling issues it attempts to address are of secondary importance to the concept that so many reviewers have found suspiciously "stimulating."

As designed, written and conceived by French graphic artist Roland Topor, "Marquis" utilizes actors (with dubbed voices) in elaborately sculpted animal masks to reflect the Marquis de Sade's writings in a story set in the Bastille prison in July 1789, just as the revolution is reaching its historic peak.

Only a handful of prisoners remain, among them Marquis, a "refractory dog" who spends most of his time writing in consultation with his erect penis, an independent thinker with a kewpie-doll face and voice that argues it thinks for Marquis as much as his brain does . . . and reminds him not to use too many verbs!

The prison's rooster governor (a masochist who crows during sexual climax) says Marquis is a blasphemist who "enjoys undermining the foundations of religion and society." Offering little argument, Marquis nonchalantly admits, "I've defecated on so many crosses."

And this from the creative team - Topor and director Henri Xhonneux - best known for creating "Telechat," the French equivalent of "Sesame Street."

The rest of the raunchy tale involves political machinations designed by the governor and the hypocritical prison chaplain (a camel), which involve the other prisoners, Pigonou (an "adulterated swine"), the revolutionary wolf Lupino, and Justine, a comely cow raped by the king, whom Marquis is assigned to rape so blame will be placed on him instead.

But then, who will go to this "animals' carnival for forewarned adults" for its story? No doubt scholars will find the film intriguing as a kind of history lesson with an outrageous Ken Russell mind-set, and occasionally the sheer audacity of the piece earns a few startled laughs. But a dog with a talking phallus? Enough already!