Jean Berlot (Liska) is a deeply troubled man who has been haunted by violent hallucinations of being stuffed into a straitjacket by two orderlies since his mother’s death, a time when she was committed to a mental institution before she died. While arranging his mother’s funeral, Jean Berlot encounters a man who insists he is the Marquis de Sade (Triska) and who behaves as if he lives in 18th-century France rather than in the 21st-century Czech Republic. An uneasy alliance forms between them, even though their relationship is more tense provocation than friendship, and Jean is repelled by the Marquis’ debauched ways, including a blasphemous orgy he glimpses through an open window. The next day, the Marquis drops dead after choking on a banana, and Jean is forced at gunpoint to help the servant Dominik (Nový) bury the coffin in the family mausoleum. The following morning, a bell rings and, after the tomb’s stone is opened, the Marquis reveals that it had all been an elaborate prank. He explains that his mother died after being buried alive, and that this memory haunts him as a peculiar form of therapy—revisiting the trauma as if it were still unfolding.
The Marquis then proposes a path that could ease Jean’s nightmares: voluntary commitment to an asylum run by his friend Dr. Murlloppe (Dusek), who offers what he calls “Purgative Therapy” for people who are not mad now but could become so in the future. Drawn to the idea, Jean falls for a beautiful nurse named Charlota (Geislerova), who insists she is being held at the hospital against her will. Charlota also reveals that Murlloppe and the Marquis were previous patients who led a revolt and managed to lock the real asylum staff in the basement. The Marquis adds that Charlota is a nymphomaniac who enjoys weaving elaborate fictional tales as a form of foreplay. On the one-year anniversary of their revolt, Murlloppe, the Marquis, and Dominik take Charlota with them for a ritual orgy, and Charlota tells Jean that this is his only chance to free the staff. When Jean uncovers the aftermath, he finds the trio tarred and feathered in the basement, and he releases the others, who quickly overpower the patients and push them back into their cells.
Dr. Coulmiere thanks Jean for freeing them and shares a stark philosophy: bodily discipline is essential to balancing the mind, and Murlloppe’s idea of curing with “freedom” is an illusion. The chase and consequences follow as Murlloppe, the Marquis, and Dominik are hunted down and punished. Charlota is rescued, and Jean believes he can leave with her and start a life together, but Dr. Coulmiere forbids departure until 8 a.m., following a strict routine. Jean struggles to sleep and seeks Charlota for comfort, only to find her gone from her room and later discovered in Dr. Coulmiere’s chamber, preparing for a night of sexual indulgence. This triggers one of Jean’s violent hallucinations, prompting Dr. Coulmiere to intervene. The doctor orders the first round of corporal punishment: two orderlies stuff Jean into a straitjacket and haul him away, sealing the night with a brutal, inescapable consequence.
