Quills

The film Quills (2000) is a biographical drama, inspired by the life accomplishments, and imprisonments of The Marquis de Sade, a french writer during the 18th century well-known for his graphically sexual and violent stories. A little too well-known, the stories (and some sexual crimes as well) get him into some trouble with the government, and he is faced with the choice between life in a prison or an asylum. His wife opps for the asylum, and that's where he comfortably stays in an ornate room, working on plenty of fresh work for the read. Madeline (Kate Winslet) a chambermaid in the asylum, sees the potential in de Sade, who is an easily loved character despite his perverted nature, and helps sneak his manuscripts to a horseman outside the asylum walls to be published. When Justine, his latest novel, appears in the hands of Napolean however, he orders de Sade to be shot. He settles for traditionalist Dr. Royer-Collard (Michael Caine), who enjoys trying out his new and sadistic "treatments" on patients to achieve moral order, to come and see over the aslym currently run by The Abbe du Coulmier (Joaquin Phoenix). Abbe is a naive, young man of God who believes de Sade is his friend and will comply with the new doctor, but when he does not, he is forced to take serious measures; measures that only push de Sade further into the beastish part of his personality, and pit science against religion- doctor against patient- censorship against freedom- for France.

The screenplay for Quills was written by Doug Wright, who also wrote the Opie-Award winning play that this film is based on. It was directed by Philip Kaufman, who is most famously known for his character work in the Indiana Jones movies. He used The Marquis de Sade: A Life, written by Neil Schaeffer, as a loose reference for his work, and he was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Screenplay for this film. The sets were built in modern day Oxfordshire, Befordshire, and London and made to look like 18th century France- a feet which is not always easy to achieve, and acquired an Oscar nomination for Art Direction. Jacqueline West was in charge of the period-piece costumes on the set, and reportedly told Winslet to reference Léopold Boilly's "Woman Ironing" to get a feel for her character. She did, and claimed that it strongly influenced her role. West was also nominated for an
Oscar in costume design.

The play was received well by critics, as was the film, but is often criticized for being historically inaccurate. Neil Schaeffer himself (who wrote The Marquis de Sade: A Life, and then wrote a review of the film) detailed these inaccuracies in full, pointing out errors in character, interpretation, and even criticizing his own impression of the character. Now, I watched the film... and I acquired certain opinions of my own. The facts that were perported wrong in the film were changed to alter the cinematic quality of the film. If they had been left as they actually happened, the film would not have been as dramatic, and it is classified as a friggen Drama. Secondly, I feel that it's a bit rude to hold the creator accountable for the impressions you got of people detailed in the film. Personally, I believe that most people get a different sense of a particular character based on their own feelings on subjects, their education, experiences, and so forth. Schaeffer claims that the film leaves you with the impression that de Sade wrote to oppose censorship- which I did not get, at ALL. He is definitely set up as a character who believes what he's saying. He's not just doing it to be popular- he really is a dirty old man, and he's pushing the boundaries of himself and the world, which is exactly what I thought after watching the film, and exactly what Schaeffer claims he was like. So... I don't think the writers can really be faulted there, as that seems to be on a person-to-person basis. However, I will agree with Schaeffer on one point: one should always judge the film as a seperate source than the real person, as well as a seperate source from the play, because that's exactly what it is, and it will help you to enjoy all the different stories in their own ways if you approach them that way.

Most notable about this film, I felt, was Geoffrey Rush's portrayal of de Sade. I don't find Rush particularly attractive, and he's considerably older than me in this film, but... damn, the man was still sexy. He's gleeful, and daring, defiant, rude, crude, sassy, stuck-up, selfish, insanely intellegent- just insane in general- addicted to the creation of the bold, and bewilderingly sexy, somehow. I like to compare him to Russell Brand's approach to movement: they both move with a sophistication, a confidence, and an elegance that attracts the eye and ears, and they are also both very good speakers with very distinct voices. Not to mention that when de Sade opens his mouth, the insatiable perverse and witty things that come out keep you laughing in shock and with humor, at the same time. He's so easy to fall in love with- and his wife puts it quite clearly by saying that, "His cruelest trick was making me fall in love with him,"- that by the time it gets to his character low point and he's sunk as far as you hope he can go, you feel terrible for him, and almost embarrassed to see him so exposed. But he really pushes the barrier at times, making you dislike him as well, so you know he does deserve punishment, but you just don't. want. to. see. it. His performance was nominated for an Oscar as Actor in a Leading Role, and a Golden Globe as Best Actor in a Drama.

 

I really enjoyed this movie, despite the inaccuracies, and I reccomend it to anyone who likes period pieces, asylums, any of the leading actors as they all did incredible jobs, or even just dramas in general. This film works extremely well in what it does, and I'm sad on its behalf that it wasn't more popular when it came out. It's gory at times, emotional, steamy, romantic, frightening, utterly disturbing, but always completely outrageous and impossible to turn off. But don't watch it before bed, on my reccomendation. I'm not squeamish, but there are some visuals at the end that stick with you, and it makes it a little hard to fall asleep with that in your head.