...that rare historical work that will appeal to a lot more people than the Masterpiece Theater crowd.
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It´s in the nature of plays, and to a lesser degree movies, to use words. It´s not always in their nature, however, to be about words. Yet that´s exactly what´s at the heart of the 2000 movie, "Quills," the partly fictionalized account of the last years of the infamous Marquis de Sade. The film is nothing less than a dramatic treatise on the power of the written word. But lest you get the idea this is merely a talky motion picture that only film critics could love, let me assure you it is gripping from first to last. Needless to say, its titillating subject matter has something to do with our paying attention, yet for all its lurid aspects, it is the dialogue and characterizations that carry it along. It is a thoroughly recommendable film with a thoroughly recommendable cast and production, that rare historical work that will appeal to a lot more people than the "Masterpiece Theater" crowd.
In a way "Quills" reminded me of "Amadeus." Both are imaginative reconstructions of real people and events, both are based on stage plays, and both are filled with witty and eloquent repartee. Where "Amadeus" had its music, "Quills" has its masochism and eroticism. Seems a fair trade. And, of course, both films are built around an adversarial relationship. Besides, how could a film fail that was directed by Phil Kaufman ("The Unbearable Lightness of Being") and stars Geoffrey Rush ("Shine"), Michael Caine ("The Cider House Rules"), Kate Winslet ("Titanic"), and Joaquin Phoenix ("Gladiator")?
At its center "Quills" fairly oozes with delicious irony. The story begins just after the French Revolution and the rise of Napoleon. The little giant sees no moral transgression in raiding half the countries of the world and killing thousands of people, but he is outraged at what he considers the scandalous behavior and writings of the Marquis. As a consequence, he has de Sade declared insane and put in an asylum, Charenton, rather than risk the public outcry that might come from his simply having the man executed. In Charenton, de Sade (Rush) continues his writing, thanks to the beneficence of its director, the Abbe Coulmier (Phoenix). Still, the priest has no intention of allowing the Marquis to publish his writing. But the Marquis has his work smuggled out of the institution thanks to a young laundress, Madeleine (Winslet), whom he befriends.
When de Sade´s newest novel, "Justine," becomes an underground bestseller and a national sensation in France, even with the Marquis locked up, the Emperor calls in the heavy artillery, Dr. Royer-Collard (Caine), to deal with the situation. Collard has little use for compassionate systems of treating mental patients and prefers, instead, old-fashioned, tried-and-true methods like the dunking chair, the rack, and the iron maiden. It matters not that de Sade is not really insane. "Do you know how I define idealism?" the doctor asks. "Youth´s final luxury." As if his belief in torture weren´t enough, in a further fit of hypocrisy, the doctor, who professes to be so offended by the Marquis´s words, obtains a bride a third his age from a convent, locks her in a fabulous chateau, and sexually brutalizes her each night. Nevertheless, the film´s most agonizing irony of all may be the Marquis´ ultimate punishment--the doctor takes his quills away! Without his writing, de Sade is stripped of everything. Undaunted, he takes to penning in wine on his bed sheets, followed by far more desperate measures. Not content to expire on a whimper, the film ends with a concluding irony that shows if you can´t beat ´em, join ´em. Superlatives all around.
The movie was written by Doug Wright, based upon his play. As we might expect from a movie taken from the stage, it is largely the acting that carries the day, and here "Quills" shines. Notwithstanding the story´s lightly glossing over de Sade´s debauched lifestyle while residing outside the many prisons, jails, and asylums he was confined to, the film neither glorifies nor vilifies him. As the Marquis, Rush is sensational, conveying moral outrage, frustration, perversity, and gentlemanly decorum in equal measure. When he´s told all copies of his book "Justine" had been confiscated and burned, he replies, "That´s the peril of composing such incendiary prose." His initial greeting to Collard is, "Welcome to our madhouse, doctor. I trust you´ll find yourself at home." When de Sade´s words aren´t laced with sarcasm, they´re tinged with eroticism. The way Madeleine puts it, he talks the way he writes. Rush was nominated for an Academy Award and may have rightly deserved it.
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