Geoffrey Rush plays the slightly insane Marquis de Sade, a sexually explicit writer during 18th century France. Banished to an asylum, he still writes his naughty stories, smuggling them out through Kate Winslet, the laundress. While the powers that be want him to stay silent, Kate and his other readers are riveted. Meanwhile, the priest Joaquin Phoenix tries to hide his growing feelings for Kate, and Doctor Michael Caine is sent to evaluate the patient.If you like extremely naughty period pieces, you'll probably like Quills. It feels a bit over the top, but that tone is probably on purpose to fit in with the setting. A low-key film in a lunatic asylum just wouldn't work! Geoffrey does a very good job, but since he's not exactly likable, it's hard to root for him. If he had a compulsion to write dirty stories, why did he have to smuggle them out for public consumption? If his were the only eyes to read his work, it would have saved everyone a lot of trouble. It also would have made for a much shorter movie.I didn't end up liking this film, because besides Michael Caine, I'm not a big fan of the cast. And, while I'm not exactly a prudish film-goer, I like the vulgarity to serve a purpose in the film, rather than just to titillate the audience. This film has excessive sexual content, both consensual and nonconsensual, and I felt like I needed a good cleansing afterwards.Kiddy Warning: Obviously, you have control over your own children. However, due to sex scenes, nudity, violence, and strong sexual content, I wouldn't let my kids watch it. Also, there may or may not be rape scenes.

I started to watch this movie without ever having heard of Marquis de Sade, so the opening scene of the movie caught my attention quite shockingly. The subtle way Kaufman maintained the balance between all the important characters without forcing any judgment on the audience is simply brilliant. The film ventures into a very sensitive topic: the sexuality of human beings and its limits, but still manages to stay away from being a movie about sex or a graphic display of Marquis' ideas. Instead the movie is focused on the personalities and what a society on the verge of enlightenment goes through. How a few out-runners break taboos and the freedom-thirsty crowd follows. It is also about different layers there are to people. For example Abbe the priest who is much more liberal in his conduct with the Marquis, Madeleine and all the other patients although he is a priest and very much chastised to the extent that !SPOILER ALERT! the conflict he struggles with in his brain derives him to insanity. I need to mention that Joaquin Phoenix's portrayal of Abbe was exceptional. I believe this was his best performance and also the best performance in the movie which is filled with great actors who portray layered and complicated characters. In contrast to Abbe is doctor Royer-Collard who is openly averted by the Marquis but yet practices some dominant and sadistic behavior with his wife and patients. He is supposed to be a scientist but he is only using this title as an excuse to commit atrocities. Madeleine is an interesting character in her turn since she remains somewhat unexplained. She seems to be attracted to the Marquis stories but does not indulge in his sexual fantasies with him, instead she goes to Abbe who is the exact opposite of Sade to seek passion. Also her role in the whole movie is very daring and she seems to be in a great danger both because she loves Abbe and because she likes Marquis. I enjoyed the movie a lot and recommend it to not young adults but to more mature audience.

Quills was not the only film about Marquis de Sade in 2000. It was more of a theatrical experiment, though, whereas French movie Sade offered an almost philosophical discourse.The premise here was that Marquis de Sade had been a whimsical old man. Not sure why this was the case, since the historical figure was a mere pervert with homicidal tendencies.The premise, in turn, follows a trend in contemporary art and culture, where Marquis de Sade becomes almost a free speech activist in today's terms.We might argue whether the film should follow historical facts or author's vision, but for me Quills deserves two stars.

I saw this movie a few weeks ago and I finally decided to write my review.What a great movie it makes you have mixed feelings in almost every scene and like others said it gets darker and more dramatic as the films advances.All the performances were fantastic and the chemistry between Kate and Geoffrey its great. Their relationship in this film reminded me too much the relationship between Haniball Lecter and Clarice starling in the silence of the lambs So why do I understand the people who didn't like it. It's obvious this film and Geoffrey Rush with his fantastic performance make the Marquise look like a a very charming sexy(in a different way) smart and heroic character when the truth is the real marquise wasn't exactly that way.(especially not heroic or sexy)!In short is the right word is Guilt What It makes us feel so guilty for liking a bad guy like him? The answer is easy Marquise truly existed meanwhile when we like Antiheroes like Haniball or let's say John Milton( Al Pacino in The devils advocate) we don't care because we liking a fictional character, but in this case it's real person portrayed in a fictional and Romanticized way.