Quills
by Philip Kaufman
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Billie Whitelaw, Geoffrey Rush, Joaquin Phoenix, Kate Winslet, Michael CaineDirector: Philip Kaufman
Brand: RUSH
Producer: Des McAnuff
Producer: Julia Chasman
Producer: Mark Huffam
Producer: Melanie Woldt
Producer: Nick Wechsler
Producer: Peter Kaufman
Writer: Doug Wright
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 124 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2001-05-08
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Summary of Quills
Fictional account of the Marquis de Sade's stay in prison.Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: R
Release Date: 17-DEC-2002
Media Type: DVD
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
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