Marat/Sade - Perfect Easter Time Viewing

Easter time in Australia is quite different from that of the Northern Hemisphere as it is our 'Fall' and so the days are getting shorter, the sky a little more overcast, people are more conscientious about their work, people are taking their lives very seriously, back to your mortgage, back to holding the fort at the office, back to watching your calories Monday to Friday.

During these serious periods, coinciding with the more dour period of the religious year, when we are focussed on death and resurrection rather than births, stars, gifts and mangers, it can transpire that you tend to take in heavier films and content. I just spent the last week watching the Macbeths of Washington knife their way through to the Presidential election. And in that tone another gift was thrown into my lap by a friend, which I wish to share with my readers.

The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade, usually shortened to Marat/Sade, is a 1963 play by Peter Weiss. I have always been partial to a play within a play and whilst I am currently only twenty minutes into it's 2 hours, I am already beginning to feel like I have found another piquant film for these more gloomy times.

If you have a spare two hours, consider watching it and falling asleep. Definitely one for the laptop propped up on cushions leading into an afternoon autumnal Sunday slumber.