Quills

Buy It
Starring: Geoffrey Rush, Joaquin Phoenix, Kate Winslet and Michael Caine.
Directed By: Philip Kaufman
Rated: R

Bluntly speaking? Yes, what you've heard is true. Quills is about the Marquis Donatien de Sade. Come on buck up! A little S&M never hurt anyone...well, anyone who wanted to play rough that is.

This is one hell of a film folks. Geoffrey Rush is simply magnetic as Marquis de Sade. He gives the ancient villain of real life real soul. Each time he utters a line, spews a perverse verse or spittles a seedy sound,it's like you are there, back in 1799 with the master of maniacal ménage-a-trois. Rush's de Sade is so well done in fact, one is almost charmed by the lord of lecherous lust.

Yes, de Sade wrote the most infamous porn ever quilled to parchment - but more than that, he was a tad whacked. He actually enjoyed a good nipple twisting followed by perhaps a blunt knife's slice or two into the genitals. For him it was just to compliment his evening's wine really. Red, I think. I know it's definitely white wine with whips.

Story goes..de Sade has been imprisoned in a sanitarium, rather then an actual prison (this time).

He befriends his chambermaid, Madeliene (Kate " Don't even whisper Titanic or I'll deck you, okay" Winslet). She's an avid reader of his yarns of yearnings, his tales of torture, his bedtime bawdies. So she assists him in smuggling his writings to an underground publisher.

Meanwhile the Dudley DoRight Abbey (Joaquin " I'm getting better looking with each role, no?" Phoenix) in charge of the place also takes a shine to Marquis. This Abbey's hell-bent on reforming the perverse Parisian and saving his demented soul. He also gives de Sade many special amenities, even though he is well aware of the Count's notorious reputation. Is the dear Abbey maybe weakening to the quill scratchings himself? Hmm.

Surprisingly, Quills has better laughs than some of the registered comedies I have seen of late. As de Sade , Rush had these lyrical one-liners that would make Dennis Miller giggle and take notes.

As the goody-two-shoes priest it is mega-talent Joaquin Phoenix's eyes that draw one in to this intensely intensified performance. His work is always just purrfection and I'd wouldn't mind deAbbeyfying him - if you know what I mean...

Quills borrows from the myth of a less vile de Sade for its main character and says - was de Sade really that sadistic or merely a victim of those colonial thinking times? You know like the old Dick Van Dyke show with two beds in the master bedroom...I fell for that till my early twenties.You be the judge since you simply must see this brilliant movie. Everyone, and every word in Quills is practically perfection. Enjoy. Oh, and leave your parents at home for this one...not a family movie kiddies.

Snack Recommendation: Fresh Tongue on Ryan, er, Rye...