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Quills Reviews

2000

60
from 6766 members

Based on the award-winning play by Doug Wright, this erotic and fantastical drama reconstructs the unknown fate of the Marquis de Sade, the writer and sexual deviant who was imprisoned in Charenton Asylum for the last 10 years of his life. QUILLS is a Gothic period piece from director Philip Kaufman that details the fall of the .. Read more

Starring	Michael Caine, Joaquin Phoenix, Billie Whitelaw, Geoffrey Rush
Director	Philip Kaufman
Genres	Drama

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Critic's review of Quills
View all critics' reviews (6)
- "...Geoffrey Rush [plays] Sade as a gleeful voluptuary unfettered by either morality [or] sentimentality....Mr. Kaufman revels in the chaos....Ms. Winslet's shrewdness as an actress has never been better displayed than it is here..."
- 9094
- - New York Times
  - 11 Mar 2005 at 12:58
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Most helpful member's review of Quills
View all members' reviews (64)
- - 19
  - 0
  Not your average costume drama!
  
  A well-made, good-looking, intelligent costume drama with lashings of sex and violence.
  
  Historically accurate? Of course not, but that wouldn't ... read more »
  
  Report this review
- 329038
- [Highly rated reviewer]
  - ThursdayNext
  - Warwickshire
  - 31 Mar 2005 at 16:05
Most recent members' reviews of Quills
View all members' reviews (64)
- - 0
  - 0
  Quills 2000
  
  I enjoyed this film. Interesting, well acted with good sets, based on fact and done realisticly. A little gruesome near the end but again being realistic to the... read more »
  
  Report this review
- 1073812
- - a customer
  - 16 Dec 2011 at 08:22
- - 0
  - 0
  very good
  
  wife and self both thought it was excellent, great entertainment, good acting, if one likes period dramas then they dont come much better.
  
  Report this review
- 1027041
- - a customer
  - 09 Aug 2011 at 07:48
- - 0
  - 0
  Very disappointing
  
  What a load of utter drivel. With a cast like that I expected great things..........i was very disappointed. I watched it to the end in case it got better - it ... read more »
  
  Report this review
- 1020302
- - a customer
  - 22 Jul 2011 at 09:39
- - 0
  - 0
  CHICKEN KORMA!
  
  I had great expectaions for this film. Perhaps that is why I was so disappointed. Don't get me wrong here was an excellent cast and the acting was very good... read more »
  
  Report this review
- 1018116
- - CaptainScott
  - 2 reviews
  - Shrewsbury
  - 16 Jul 2011 at 22:04
- - 0
  - 0
  Not that great!
  
  I think I expected a more engaging movie.
  
  The acting is indeed very good but there's something missing that left me rather unsatisfied at the end... read more »
  
  Report this review
- 1017493
- - Babs292
  - 11 reviews
  - London
  - 15 Jul 2011 at 14:13
- - 1
  - 1
  Poor Quills - No Frills
  
  I guess when it came out it was edgy, exciting and erotically different. But its a movie that's dated I feel. I couldn't watch it with eyes from the ... read more »
  
  Report this review
- 934433
- - a customer
  - London
  - 25 Oct 2010 at 16:08
- - 1
  - 0
  The torture art can bring...
  
  ... Is well portrayed in this unorthodox period drama. The story provides a take on the passion of the creator and their desperation to be, and relief from ... read more »
  
  Report this review
- 905796
- - Forensic
  - 7 reviews
  - St. Leonards-on-Sea
  - 15 Jul 2010 at 23:55
- - 1
  - 0
  Brilliantly acted.
  
  I will not wax lyrical about this film even though it is superb; my comment is solely about the incredible acting of Kate Winslet, Joaquin Phoenix and Michael ... read more »
  
  Report this review
- 860722
- - a customer
  - Reading, England
  - 12 Feb 2010 at 15:01
- - 0
  - 0
  Carry On Perverting
  
  Jolly good fun film for the most part, but it's hard not to imagine what the Carry On team would have done with it, with Frankie Howerd or Sid James as the ... read more »
  
  Report this review
- 844659
- - InspectorSands
  - 209 reviews
  - London
  - 03 Jan 2010 at 17:04
- - 0
  - 0
  Superb
  
  Period drama with fantastic performances and excellent story. Geoffrey Rush brilliantly portrays the Maquis De Sade in this sordid, funny and frightening tale ... read more »
  
  Report this review
- 821556
- - GaryI
  - 617 reviews
  - March, Cambs
  - 15 Oct 2009 at 21:13
View all members' reviews (64)

- - 19
  - 0
  Not your average costume drama!
  
  A well-made, good-looking, intelligent costume drama with lashings of sex and violence.
  
  Historically accurate? Of course not, but that wouldn't ... read more »
  
  Report this review
- 329038
- [Highly rated reviewer]
  - ThursdayNext
  - Warwickshire
  - 31 Mar 2005 at 16:05
- - 8
  - 0
  Not your average costume drama...
  
  But a wonderful, wonderful film. Attention doesn't stay focussed on one character for too long, instead we're told the story of Madeline the chamber ... read more »
  
  Report this review
- 17896
- - a customer
  - Leeds, England
  - 12 Sep 2004 at 10:11
- - 7
  - 0
  A disturbing exploration of the darker side of our sexual natures
  
  Set in the Napoleonic era, a few years after the terror of the French Revolution, the Marquis de Sade writes from a mental asylum. The contrast between his ... read more »
  
  Report this review
- 846
- - Jean Atkins
  - Cumbria
  - 03 Jan 2004 at 08:31
- - 7
  - 1
  Interesting but could have been something special
  
  Biopics are a type of film that I love watching, particularly when they are done well. Although this isn't a biopic it has a feel of being one and I did ... read more »
  
  Report this review
- 61091
- [Highly rated reviewer]
  - McClennan
  - 424 reviews
  - St Helens
  - 29 Dec 2004 at 15:25
- - 6
  - 2
  1792 The Marquis de Sade LOVES to write!
  
  He can not help himself, unfortunately it is the smutty things he loves to write about that do not fit into society. So the Marquis has been inprisoned in an ... read more »
  
  Report this review
- 190168
- - Sparkie
  - Bristol, UK
  - 05 Jan 2006 at 12:59
- - 5
  - 0
  Sensuous & Twisted
  
  This is an improvement on your average costume drama, Jeffrey Rush is brilliantly seedy as the dissolute Marquis, and Kate Winslet is a breath of fresh air as ... read more »
  
  Report this review
- 341342
- - Elsa13
  - West Midlands
  - 20 Jul 2005 at 09:44
- - 3
  - 0
  Not your average costume drama!
  
  Sex, violence and insanity: not your average costume drama but a brilliant film nontheless. Geoffrey Rush is wonderfully over the top as the mad marquis, you ... read more »
  
  Report this review
- 61195
- - Sam
  - Midlands, UK
  - 30 Dec 2004 at 13:35
- - 2
  - 0
  Colourful yet poignant, a truly enthralling watch
  
  This was everything I expected: wonderful acting at almost very point, a good storyline and superbly directed. The character development is involving and there ... read more »
  
  Report this review
- 65285
- - KP
  - Manchester
  - 18 Jan 2005 at 23:31
- - 2
  - 0
  Worth watching
  
  This film is definitely worth watching. It's subject matter is a bit dark but it still manages to be entertaining & funny in parts. Geoffrey Rush is ... read more »
  
  Report this review
- 80763
- - a customer
  - Lincs
  - 12 Mar 2005 at 18:49
- - 2
  - 0
  great cossie drama
  
  I'd rented this before and wanted to see it again once it had lost its initial shock value (and it will shock dear readers). On second view it is such a ... read more »
  
  Report this review
- 130869
- - a customer
  - Sheffield England
  - 03 Aug 2005 at 22:15

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Critics' reviews
- "...Geoffrey Rush [plays] Sade as a gleeful voluptuary unfettered by either morality [or] sentimentality....Mr. Kaufman revels in the chaos....Ms. Winslet's shrewdness as an actress has never been better displayed than it is here..."
- 9094
- - New York Times
  - 11 Mar 2005 at 12:58
- A fantasia on de Sade as an icon of subversion and victim of institutional repression, given a spurious power by the quality of the acting.
- 30983
- - Halliwell's Film Guide
  - 02 Mar 2006 at 15:41
- "...[Rush] runs with it. It's a brave, take-no-prisoners performance....Winslet manages to instill nice complexity...as does Phoenix..."
- 9092
- - Hollywood Reporter
  - 11 Mar 2005 at 12:58
- It's true that the Marquis de Sade was held at the Charenton asylum, diagnosed with 'Libertine dementia', that he wrote... read more on Time Out
- 44178
- - Time Out
  - 04 Nov 2008 at 00:14
- "...Funny, engrossing and unpredictable....Rush gives a towering portrayal of one of the most infamous men in history..."
- 9093
- - Movieline
  - 11 Mar 2005 at 12:58
- "...Rush relishes his role....Winslet captures both the beauty and the spirit of the character..."
- 9091
- - Box Office
  - 11 Mar 2005 at 12:58

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Buy from Amazon.co.uk

- - Buy
- Quills
  
  Based on the award-winning play by Doug Wright, this erotic and fantastical drama reconstructs the unknown fate of the Marquis de Sade, the writer and sexual deviant who was imprisoned in Charenton Asylum for the last 10 years of his life. QUILLS is a Gothic period piece from director Philip ...