If you're looking for a smart, nuanced look at de Sade and what might have happened at Picpus, Sade is your film.
– Jonathan Curiel,
San Francisco Chronicle,
9 Aug 2002
rotten:
This Sade is hardly a perverse, dangerous libertine and agitator -- which would have made for better drama. He's just a sad aristocrat in tattered finery, and the film seems as deflated as he does.
– Loren King,
Chicago Tribune,
29 Aug 2002
fresh:
It's a rosy coming-of-age romp that refuses to see the horror even in the severed heads from the guillotine.
– Wesley Morris,
Boston Globe,
30 Aug 2002
fresh:
In Auteil's less dramatic but equally incisive performance, he's a charismatic charmer likely to seduce and conquer.
– Marta Barber,
Miami Herald,
11 Oct 2002
fresh:
Sade is Quills without the hyperbole and melodrama.