I haven't written a review on here in a while, but I felt as though I should write a few comments on this particular picture as I have always been fascinated by the Marquis De Sade. Perhaps my expectations were too high going into the theater to watch this film with an kind of unbiased mind, because I was let down. I went expecting what could have been a break-through film, that really could have said a lot about the society we are living in today, but it did not even come near to fulfilling those expectations. As just an ordinary film it was good. The writing was top notch. The performances were all very good, especially Geoffrey Rush who I believe is one of the most under appreciated actors out there today. I can't think of many film stars that can compare to his talent as an actor. The way he plays a character is similar to Peter Sellers, yet much deeper somehow. Geoffrey Rush did not disappoint at all and if anything is going to win an Oscar in this film it will be his performance. The other actors put in adequate performances, with Phoenix, Winslet and Caine seemingly going through the motions of putting in good, but hardly Oscar worthy performances. I should be fair and say that Caine had a couple of scenes that were gems. Also, cheers to newcomer Amelia Warner, I suspect there's going to be a bright future ahead for this young beauty. However, the writing and performances were not enough to make this a great film. What I think was most aggravating was how little we really learned about the Marquis De Sade, at certain points it seemed like he was hated just for being a wicked gossip, while at other times he came off as a dirty old man. The Marquis De Sade was an amazingly complex figure because his ideas were so perverse to the absolute extreme and yet his expression of those ideas was utterly brilliant. We did not see many of those qualities in this film at all. The story of the laundry maid was twisted and changed around, as were a few other characters in this story who were real figures. This made me ask, why couldn't this film simply have told the life of the Marquis De Sade as it was, rather than changing the true story into a fictional one that is far less interesting? At times I almost felt like I was watching "Disney Does De Sade" it was light and fluffy when it should have been provocative and erotic. I don't usually complain about how a film should have been made, but this one could have been much better.