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Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom
Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma
1976 117 min Italy, France 18+
★6.0
Drama, Horror
Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini
📖 Based on the novel
«The 120 Days of Sodom»
byMarquis de Sade
Trailers
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Description
Four corrupted fascist libertines round up 9 teenage boys and girls and subject them to 120 days of sadistic physical, mental and sexual torture.
Budget:
$800,000
Worldwide:
$1.8M
Starring
Paolo Bonacelli
Actor
Giorgio Cataldi
Actor
Uberto Paolo Quintavalle
Actor
Awards
Venice Film Festival 2015
— Venice Classics – Best Restored Film
Key opinion
Pasolini's final film is a polarizing, radical work of grotesque satire that uses the setting of the Republic of Salò to expose the cruelty of power and the dehumanizing nature of consumer capitalism. While cinephiles and art-house enthusiasts laud its bold, uncompromising exploration of the human subconscious, many viewers find the graphic, ritualized violence gratuitous, disturbing, and potentially damaging.
| Score | Ennio Morricone's score serves as a masterfully composed, essential element of the film's atmosphere. | |
| Acting | The performances are remarkably dedicated, with the cast successfully embodying the chilling, escalating cruelty of the fascist elite. | |
| Production | The production design, utilizing refined villa interiors and aesthetic cues from classical Italian painting, elevates the film's visual presentation. | |
| Direction | Pasolini’s direction is transgressive and visionary, effectively utilizing grotesque imagery to articulate a complex political and philosophical manifesto. | |
| Emotion | The film's extreme, graphic nature is highly divisive; supporters view it as a necessary, challenging art-house provocation, while critics argue it is an empty, potentially harmful exercise in gratuitous cruelty. | |
| Screenplay | Opinions on the screenplay are split: some find it a profound adaptation of de Sade that deciphers human primal instincts, while others dismiss it as an inconsistent, hollow portrait of humanity that fails to provide a meaningful moral lens. |