Quills [MA]

Imprisoned and shut away from the world in an asylum, the Marquis de Sade writes his erotic tales of perversion and lust and has them secretly published with the help of a beautiful and innocent chambermaid named Madeleine. But when the Emperor bans the books from publication and sends an infamous doctor to the asylum to keep the Marquis in check, a vicious and provocative confrontation begins between one man’s freedom of expression and the state’s need for control. 

THIS IS A BRILLIANT FILM! It’s powerful, passionate, provocative, and at times, delightfully and wickedly irksome. From within the deepest reaches of your stomach, you shall feel something rise up and threaten to either make you scream with pleasure or lose your last meal. 

Forewarning: pretty much everything that can be said about Quills can be twisted into some sort of erotic allusion, so “dear reader”, make what you will of my words. After all, the movie is about freedom… no holes barred, so to speak. 

Imprisoned and shut away from the world in an asylum, the Marquis de Sade writes his erotic tales of perversion and lust and has them secretly published with the help of a beautiful and innocent chambermaid named Madeleine. But when the Emperor bans the books from further publication and sends an infamous doctor to the asylum to keep the Marquis in check, a vicious and provocative confrontation begins between one man’s freedom of expression and the state’s need for control. 

As a writer (of sorts), a reader, and a lover of the raw power of words, the script for Quills instantly strikes me as deserving an accolade. Each and every word that is used is dripping with an erotic decadence that is enough to spark a fire within any cool veneer. Listening to the words, especially those spoken by Geoffrey Rush just cause you to melt and lose all feeling of right, wrong, and gravity. You just feel as though you’re floating in warm water, without any thought or care as to how or why. 

Geoffrey Rush stars as the Marquis de Sade and his performance exuded sheer brilliance. His way with words was poetic and silky, but at the same time menacing and defiant, and his delivery was passionate and grandiose, that of a true artist. His sheer verbalisation of the script had you hanging on every word and, even though the film does not tell you what wars are waging, you understand that there is more going on then just a man being told he cannot write. Rush’s performance radiated defiance, repression, frustration, passion, desire, and eventually, freedom though not in the way expected. I have to quote him at this point, one of the best lines of the film: “an entire religion built on an oxymoron”. You see, from that little sentence, sparks a battle between those of Faith and those not. It’s bloody brilliant. 

Starring Kate Winslet, Joaquin Phoenix, who was absolutely brilliant, and Michael Caine, who had wickedness running out of his ears, Quills is a devilishly delightful film that’s filled with drama, passion, repression, defiance, sexual fantasies, and violence. It follows a path that everyone should tread at least once. In the words of Lou Reed: “take a walk on the wild side.”