The Marquis de Sade garnered a reputation for his infamously explicit works, so it’s no surprise that his life story would interest filmmakers for adaptation. Quills is one such adaptation, but viewers should take note that writer Doug Wright takes large liberties in adapting it, shifting historical fact to paint de Sade as a champion of freedom of expression, of all the desires that society would have left unfulfilled, but the film also less interested in him rather than the reactions of the young lovers triggered by his words. Director Philip Kaufman matches these ideas with provocative visuals and the cast delivers solid performances, but, all-in-all, Quills is a rather tame depiction of this provocative writer.
Synopsis
A nobleman with a literary flair, the Marquis de Sade lives in a madhouse where a beautiful laundry maid smuggles his erotic stories to a printer, defying orders from the asylum's resident priest. The titillating passages whip all of France into a sexual frenzy, until a fiercely conservative doctor tries to put an end to the fun.
Storyline
Paris, 1790s. The irrepressible Marquis De Sade stirs up controversy with his sexually explicit writing, smuggled out by a laundress Madeleine LeClerc, leading the Emperor to send Dr. Royer-Collard to take control of the insane asylum of Charenton, overseen by the Abbé du Coulmier.
TLDR
Pun unintended, I swear.
What stands out
Quills is very historically inaccurate, but I feel like De Sade would be more concerned with how tame it is over how much they rewritten his biography.
