Kate Winslet Movie:

Editorial Review:
With bedroom eyes and the mischievous smirk of an insatiable roué, Geoffrey Rush is a perfect choice to play the Marquis de Sade in Quills, directed by Philip Kaufman and adapted by Doug Wright from his own stage play. Imprisoned in France's Charenton asylum at the turn of the 18th century, de Sade is a stately court jester in disheveled finery, and Rush imbues the role with the fierce urgency of a writer whose sexual fantasies are his sole remaining defense against repression and hypocrisy. Deprived of quill and ink, he writes with wine, then blood, then his own feces--a descent into madness or an impassioned refusal to be silenced? Quills embraces freedom of expression ("such beauty, such abomination," as one character notes) while affirming that all freedoms have a price.

De Sade smuggles manuscripts out of Charenton with help from Madeleine (Kate Winslet), a virginal laundress who relishes de Sade's scandalous prose--a divine irony since she was taught to read by asylum abbé Coulmier (Joaquin Phoenix), whose desire for Madeleine is suppressed by Catholic propriety. The delicate dynamic of this trio is shattered by the arrival of Royer-Collard (Michael Caine, appearing somewhat comatose), a righteous hypocrite appointed to silence de Sade once and for all. It's all very engrossing as a piece of theater (which it still is, despite Kaufman's elegant filming), and although Wright's literate dialogue limits de Sade to zesty ripostes and sneering perversity, Rush's intensity ensures that the marquis's plight is no laughing matter. Quills has a point, makes it without condescension, and knows the difference between madness and passion. --Jeff Shannon

Quills [Region 2] Reviews:
Quills, The Movie
2009-09-09 - Quills is an excellent movie about the marquis de sade. The movie arrive in its original packaging, intact and in a timely manner.

Quills
2009-08-06 - DVD was in perfect condition, and recieved on time! Would definitely recommend this sender 100%

A "Rorschach" movie
2009-06-09 - What you get out of this idiosyncratic movie depends heavily, far more than in most movies, on what you bring to it. The Marquis himself and treatment of him will evoke any of many different feelings, depending on the viewer's background and beliefs. I choose not to touch on those feelings, except to say that Rush, Winslet, Phoenix, and all the rest did exceptional jobs in dealing with this complex character and setting.

I'm not forgetting Michael Caine, by the way. Instead, I single him out for special recognition. His rendering of the viciousness that de Sade's name attached to is outdone only by the genteel and brutal hypocrisy he brought to his character. Caine has done it before, when he created a startlingly similar character in an utterly different setting, in The Statement. Perhaps, in Quills, the character has slightly more awareness of his own dark nature. Outside of that, I find the characters nearly interchangeable.

Given the character it describes and the state of mental health care in the first years of the nineteenth century, many won't find this easy to watch. If you tolerate it, though, its musings on just which lunatics are running the asylum might lead you analogies in many parts of today's society.

-- wiredweird

Good but long.
2009-06-01 - Great movie. A drama but funny. Not one to be watched if you don't have a lot of time, it seemed a bit long.

still amazing!
2009-02-12 - Absolutely one of the best history films. Kate Winslet and Geoffrey Rush, who can beat this combination! The story of Marquis de Sade with the turn you would never expect. It wasn't a box office hit, that's why it is worth of watching. Over and over.