As someone who has read all of De Sade's major works as well as several analyses of both them and his life, I approached this move with trepidation. My fears were mostly unfounded, and it revealed itself as by far the best portrayal of the Marquis to date. The actual details of his life are sketchy and thus a generous helping of artistic license was called for, in this the film succeeds in being true to the spirit of De Sade, if not precisely to historical fact.
Quills has one of best openings ever, describing it would spoil the surprise, enough to say that it uses a superbly executed piece of bait and switch to shock and exhilerate the viewer while placing De Sade's writing splendidly in context.
The film is set during De Sade's period of incarceration in a lunatic asylum. Geoffry Rush's charismatic performance in the lead role is first rate, and a fine compromise between the generic horror movie Marquis (evil, suave & swashbuckling) and the real item (overweight, asthmatic, a writer rather than a doer). The supporting cast are all good, particularly Kate Winslet as Madellaine, the asylum's laundry girl who helps smuggle out his manuscripts.
There are some truly inspired and hilarious moments, my favourite being where De Sade is allowed to direct a play acted by the other inmates, at the last minute he changes the script from The Happy Shoemaker to his own Eugenie De Franvil!
Michael Caine as the asylum doctor is a nice study in Sadean philosophy, though the end result becomes a little silly in places.
In the final 15 minutes the film deviates completely from history in an attempt to provide a finale and some sense of closure to the narrative, the ending is entertaining but also ridiculous, ironically enough the historical version holds more real horror than a few minutes of gore, it might better have finished with a visit to the asylum 20 years on to show that he was still there, naked in his cold dark cell, desperately scratching away at his masterpiece, 120 Days Of Sodom.
Altogether this is a film whose strong points more than make up for it's rather criminal ending.
Quills has one of best openings ever, describing it would spoil the surprise, enough to say that it uses a superbly executed piece of bait and switch to shock and exhilerate the viewer while placing De Sade's writing splendidly in context.
The film is set during De Sade's period of incarceration in a lunatic asylum. Geoffry Rush's charismatic performance in the lead role is first rate, and a fine compromise between the generic horror movie Marquis (evil, suave & swashbuckling) and the real item (overweight, asthmatic, a writer rather than a doer). The supporting cast are all good, particularly Kate Winslet as Madellaine, the asylum's laundry girl who helps smuggle out his manuscripts.
There are some truly inspired and hilarious moments, my favourite being where De Sade is allowed to direct a play acted by the other inmates, at the last minute he changes the script from The Happy Shoemaker to his own Eugenie De Franvil!
Michael Caine as the asylum doctor is a nice study in Sadean philosophy, though the end result becomes a little silly in places.
In the final 15 minutes the film deviates completely from history in an attempt to provide a finale and some sense of closure to the narrative, the ending is entertaining but also ridiculous, ironically enough the historical version holds more real horror than a few minutes of gore, it might better have finished with a visit to the asylum 20 years on to show that he was still there, naked in his cold dark cell, desperately scratching away at his masterpiece, 120 Days Of Sodom.
Altogether this is a film whose strong points more than make up for it's rather criminal ending.