The Marquis de Sade, a famous inmate, writes and produces a theatrical production at the Charenton Insane Asylum, where the inmates perform in the bath house for an audience of aristocrats. The play retells a period in the French Revolution, exploring whether Jean-Paul Marat was a friend or foe to the French people. The primary roles are played by inmates with afflictions, such as a paranoiac with a skin condition as Marat, a narcoleptic with melancholia as Charlotte Corday, and a sexual manic as M. Dupere.