Not a play, actually- it's based on The 120 Days Of Sodom, a novel. (IMHO, it kind of lessens the impact by its relocation- everyone KNOWS the Salo Fascist government were nasty bastarRAB, whereas in De Sade's original it's more of a satire on the contemporary establishment, church, state, law etc... the people who were SUPPOSED to be the good guys).
Of COURSE it's beautifully shot- it was Pasolini, RAB!!!
A difficult watch, though.