Quills

Rating:
Summary: Kept my attention, but was contrived and empty.
Review: This film was as contrived as one could get. I couldn't believe the silliness of the film's statement "de Sade isn't as bad as this other hypocrite pervert". Only the most moronic of people would follow the writer/director into this sort of logic in the attempt to make de Sade a cushy likeable character. The reality is that the film goes to extremes to distort the reality of what sort of man de Sade really was...one who truly did maim, burn, and torture women in his real life. The film glosses over this with one line from the even more ruthless character of the doctor. Why Kate Winslet even took her lame role is a question I'm still asking myself...when her role consisted mainly of being at de Sade's door asking for "linens, please...your linens please". The really awful excerpts from de Sade's work was lame...and not at all allowed to build to any erotic point. As far as I'm concerned the only interesting part of the film was when the maidservant was sandwiched between the maleservants and they were gossipping about what the nuns had told. Naturally, none of this had anything to do with de Sade or Winslet or Joaquin Phoenix's character. Speaking of which...the priest was the only interesting character in the film...and even then, his intrigue never really took off soon enough.

The ending was plainly desperate and blinding me with the glare of contrivance...but alas...they must have thought kids from the fourth grade were coming to see the film.

Rating:
Summary: Literate and provocative
Review: Filled with flashes of brilliance, Quills is a literate, intelligent movie. It is not for everyone. Some will find it too slow, while others, especially those with little knowledge of history, will find it confusing. The biggest turn off for most viewers, however, is that it is lewd and shocking. Ironically, the film's protagonist, the Marquis De Sade, was in real life put in an insane asylum because of his shocking behavior and his pornographic writings. This happened in France over two hundred years ago. There is no evidence that he was really mentally ill, but he was certainly one of history's most amoral and notorious characters. The word 'sadism' derives from his name.

The movie opens in 1805 in the French asylum where De Sade spent his final days. The place is run by Abbe Coulmier [Joaquin Phoenix], an enlightened Catholic brother who uses tolerance and understanding as healing tools. He is much admired, but his world is soon to go haywire. One of the institution's servant girls, Madeleine [Kate Winslett], has been smuggling De Sade's [Geoffrey Rush] manuscripts out, and they have been published in Paris. When Napoleon, who has declared himself emperor of France, discovers this, he sends Dr. Royce-Collard [Michael Caine] on a mission to the asylum. He is to stop De Sade from writing by whatever means necessary. Royce-Collard has just married a girl forty years his junior. Later she plays a pivotal role in the story. At first the naive Abbe welcomes the doctor. Later, when he becomes caught in a great battle of wits between De Sade and Royce-Collard, he loses control of both the asylum and his mind.

The cast is brilliant, except for Caine, who, though a great actor, seems out of place here. Royce-Collard requires a more sinister actor. Christopher Walken or Jack Nicholson would have been perfect. Rush's performance is a dazzling one, and his Oscar nomination was well deserved.

Quills asks questions that are still most appropriate today, especially with the rise of conservatism in America. Is freedom of speech to be defended no matter what? Is there no limit to artistic expression? Can a writer really inspire some people to acts of depravity and violence, or does reading about such things satisfy a dark need in otherwise decent people? Is hypocrisy ever the right answer to things that trouble many in society? Except for the hypocrisy issue, Quills doesn't answer these questions. It lets the audience answer them.

Director Philip Kaufman has never been one to leave anything to the imagination. Quills is strong stuff, and I personally have no problem with that. That leaves us with one more question: Is Quills entertainment? Again, each viewer must decide.

NOTE: While all of the main characters actually existed, great liberty has been taken by the script's author, Doug Wright. What you see on the screen bears little resemblance to what actual went on in the asylum.

Rating:
Summary: Geoffrey Rush brings some of his best
Review: i found this film to be one of those films i just couldnt stop watching.Rush brings a great performace as a writer in earlyday prisons writting rather pornographic mateial,well at least in tose days it was.throughout the movie he's punished for letting his writtings be sold outside of his prison he's punushments include the taking away all he's writting material,but that dont stop rush he finds plenty of "bodily"he!he! ways to produce writing material.you'll find this part of the movie rather intresting or maybe even a whole lot on the wild side.check this one out its really good but not for the faint of heart there are some gross parts to the film but it really makes it all the more better.

Rating:
Summary: Hollywood makes a hero out of an historic monster
Review:

This film is set in France immediately preceding the revolution, with graphic depictions of the guillotine at work, among other things.

Somehow, Hollywood's depiction of the Marquis de Sade, whose name is the origin of the term "sadism," reminds me of the fact that a film was also made depicting Larry Flynt, who owns Hustler magazine, as a heroic defender of "free speech."

Here, de Sade (played by Geoffrey Rush) is depicted as an heroic defender of the freedom to write pornography, much like Flynt in that regard--a tragic victim of censorship. Of course the "bad guy," his tormentor--a right-wing (what else!) moralist whom I suspect was patterned after Jerry Falwell (played by Michael Caine), is a closet pervert who "gets off" on sadism.

There is a plot to the picture, and the cinematography was good. The acting was excellent by all concerned. However, I would hardly class the film as entertainment. It was brutal, and it glorified pornography explicitly. The heroine (Kate Winslet) was entranced with perverted sex, although supposedly a virgin.

Altogether, I would class this one as another example of Hollywood propaganda--well made, but with a twisted message.

Joseph Pierre

Rating:
Summary: Does Sexuality Cause Madness, Or Vice Versa?
Review: An interesting diversion, QUILLS tells the story of Marque de Sade's imprisonment and his attempts to still influence French society despite Napoleon's reign. A tragic romance starring Kate Winslet, Michael Caine, Geoffrey Rush, and Joaquim Phoenix, QUILLS is definitely worth a viewing ... kind of a thematic cross between SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE and ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST. While the film toys with the question of whether sexuality causes madness (or vice versa), there are no answers here: it's primarily the journey that matters and not the outcome.

Rating:
Summary: Subject matter too narrow
Review: Sadly disappointed, I hoped to learn about the society which cultivated the Marquis's writings. Instead, I watched a justification of why it's OK to like porn (because you can be a better person once you purge yourself). The worst part: I actually was so grossed out by the gore and blood, that Speed and Die Hard actually constitute a more romantic, hotter date flick. A waste of the brilliant talent that graced each frame.

Rating:
Summary: a stand-out movie with superb performances
Review: Geoffrey Rush, Kate Winslet and Joaquim Phoenix make up the stellar cast of this tale of the Marquis de Sade (Rush), put in a mental asylum by his wife. He continues to write his erotic literature, which is taken to a publisher with the help of the laundress' daughter Madeline (Winslet), who hides the papers in her laundry basket and gives it to a courier at the gate. The head of the institution cannot figure out how he is getting published while behind bars, and orders his writing utensils -- his quills -- taken away. but the Marquis will still write ...

The asylum's abbe (Phoenix) struggles to maintain order and kindness to the various inmates, who include a rapist and a pyromaniac. He lusts after Madeline, though he tries to keep it under wraps. In the attempt to maintain the Marquis' freedom of expression, a horrific final scene occurs.

This is a great movie -- it is unexpected and interesting, and it is nice to see a flick that keeps your eyes open, where you don't predict every last word because it's so mundane. Rent Quills today!

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing movie neither erotic nor entertaining
Review: I was completely ready to enjoy "Quills" based on what I had read about it beforehand, but I was sorely disappointed in the movie. Geoffrey Rush plays a feisty and perpetually aroused Marquis de Sade, locked away in an asylum but still producing flowery erotic stories to pass the time. Kate Winslet plays a sympathetic maid who smuggles his stories to publishers who turn them into best-selling bootleg books. That's the first thing that bothered me about the movie -- was there really no one else in Napoleonic France who could produce absurdly overwritten ...P>The characters are mostly devoid of nuance. Rush's de Sade is a one-note leering horndog. Winslet's virginal chambermaid appeals to both de Sade and Joaquin Phoenix's character, the repressed cleric who runs the asylum. I did like Phoenix's turn as the priest who is tolerant enough to become friends with de Sade; I thought his work in this movie was more subtle and interesting than in "Gladiator". Michael Caine is a humorless scientist (with torturous medical techniques) appointed as an "advisor" to the asylum to suppress de Sade's writing. Even the random assortment of asylum inmates seem like stock characters: the pyromaniac; the giant; the guy who thinks he's a bird.

"Quills" reminds me strongly of two other movies. "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" is, to me, a far better look at a free spirit trapped in an asylum that is trying to repress him. The other is "The People vs. Larry Flynt", another movie which takes the side of the pornographer as the system tries to censor him. ...; in this movie de Sade is portrayed as a wickedly sexual but mostly harmless producer of satirical smut that appeals to everyone but the repressed elite. In real life, de Sade was famous for torturing women and is the inspiration for the term "sadism".

I wanted to like "Quills" but the snippets of de Sade's writing we are given are absurd and sometimes funny but not really erotic, and while I agree with the anti-censorship theme of the movie, it is not presented in an interesting or thoughtful manner. It's more like a Rodney Dangerfield snobs-vs.-slobs movie where the lower classes are all titillated by de Sade's stories and the upper classes can only shudder and try to squash him. I think "Quills" would fit better as a theater production, where the interactions between de Sade and his captors might be more interesting, but the story just doesn't seem "big" enough to merit a whole movie. The vast majority of the movie takes place in the asylum, a lot of it in de Sade's cell, and as it played out to its inevitable resolution there just wasn't anything in the way of scenery, character development or originality to keep me interested. I'd instead recommend "Cuckoo's Nest" or "Larry Flynt", or "Elizabeth" if you want to see Geoffrey Rush in period garb.

Rating:
Summary: GREAT PERFORMANCES
Review: Geoffrey Rush, Joaquim Phoenix, Kate Winslet and Michael Caine are all excellent in this film about the last days of the Marquis de Sade's life. Rush brings the Marquis to life as the lecherous writer imprisoned for writing lurid and perverted materials. The books were outlawed, but illegal copies circulated. The problem, in fact, was that while the Marquis was imprisoned, his books were still being written, still being smuggled out of the prison and published. He was aided in his quest to be published by one of the women working in the prison (Kate Winslet), who smuggled his works out with the laundry. The lengths to which the Marquis eventually goes in order to write (writing his works on his sheets with red wine, writing with his own feces on the walls) are both ludicrous and extraordinary. Joaquim Phoenix plays the sympathetic priest who tries to negotiate with the Marquis, trying to get him to tone down his eccentricities in exchange for the luxuries the priest allows the Marquis to have. When word of the Marquis's perverted books is publicised, scandal ensues and a sadistic "mental health professional"(Michael Caine) is sent to "cure" the Marquis of his ills. Eventually all hell breaks loose. Life is lost, some are driven to madness, and no one is spared in this rather tragic tale.

Rating:
Summary: I was enchanted by this movie
Review: "Quills" is a very enchanting, yet psychotic and artistic movie. I simply love it! The characters are very lovable, especially the Marquis (you couldn't help but love him). Kate Winslet does a great job playing an innocent laundry girl, and Joaquin Phoenix gets into his character so well that you can feel the anguish that he's in towards the end of the movie. I truly recommend this movie.