In the titles, Pasolini informs viewers that it is "1944-45 nell' Italia Settentrionale durante l'occupazione nazifascista [in Northern Italy during the Nazi-Fascist occupation]." That, along with the "Bibliografia essenziale" that precedes it, indicates that a political meaning, dealing with the corruption of absolute power, was uppermost in the filmmakers mind. Motives aside, Pasolini's interpretation of the Marquis de Sade's eighteenth century...