Taglines: Meet the Marquis de Sade. The pleasure is all his.
The infamous writer, the Marquis de Sade of 18th Century France, is imprisoned at Charenton Insane Asylum for unmentionable activities. He manages to befriend the young Abbé de Coulmier, who runs the asylum, along with a beautiful laundress named Madeline. Things go terribly wrong when the Abbe finds out that the Marquis’ books are being secretly published. The emperor Napoleon contemplates sending Dr. Royer-Collard to oversee the asylum, a man famed for his torturous punishments. It could mean the end of Charenton and possibly the Marquis himself.
Quills is a 2000 American-British-German period film directed by Philip Kaufman and adapted from the Obie award-winning play by Doug Wright, who also wrote the original screenplay.[4] Inspired by the life and work of the Marquis de Sade, Quills re-imagines the last years of the Marquis’s incarceration in the insane asylum at Charenton. It stars Geoffrey Rush as de Sade, Joaquin Phoenix as the Abbé du Coulmier, Michael Caine as Dr. Royer-Collard, and Kate Winslet as laundress Madeleine “Maddie” LeClerc.
Well received by critics, Quills garnered numerous accolades for Rush, including nominations for an Oscar, BAFTA and a Golden Globe. The film was a modest art house success, averaging $27,709 per screen its debut weekend, and eventually grossing $17,989,277 internationally. Cited by historians as factually inaccurate, Quills filmmakers and writers said they were not making a biography of de Sade, but exploring issues such as censorship, pornography, sex, art, mental illness, and religion. It was released with an R rating from the Motion Picture Association of America and an 18 rating from the British Board of Film Classification due to “strong horror, violence, sex, sexual violence, and nudity”
The interior set of the Charenton (asylum) in Quills was built at Pinewood Studios, where most of the filming took place. Oxfordshire, Bedfordshire, and London stood in for the exterior shots of early 19th century France. Oscar-winning production designer Martin Childs (Shakespeare in Love) imagined the primary location of Charenton as an airy, though circuitous place, darkening as Royer-Collard takes over operations. The screenplay specifies the way the inmates’ rooms link together, which plays a key role in the relay of the Marquis’ climactic story to Madeleine. Screenwriter/playwright Doug Wright was a constant presence on set, assisting the actors and producers in interpreting the script and bringing his vision to life.
Oscar-nominated costume designer Jacqueline West created the intricate period costumes, using each character as inspiration. West previously worked with director Philip Kaufman on his crime drama Rising Sun. For Joaquin Phoenix’s Abbé, costumers designed special “pleather” clogs to accommodate the actor’s veganism. In one scene, Rush’s Marquis de Sade wears a suit decorated in bloody script, which West described as “challenging” to make.
It features actual writings of de Sade and costumers planned exactly where each sentence should go on the fabric. Before production began, West gave Winslet a copy of French painter Léopold Boilly’s “Woman Ironing” to give her a feel for the character, which Winslet said greatly influenced her performance.
Quills (2000)
Directed by: Philip Kaufman
Starring: Geoffrey Rush, Kate Winslet, Joaquin Phoenix, Michael Caine, Billie Whitelaw, Patrick Malahide, Amelia Warner, Jane Menelaus, Elizabeth Berrington
Screenplay by: Doug Wright
Production Design by: Martin Childs
Cinematography by: Rogier Stoffers
Film Editing by: Peter Boyle
Costume Design by: Jacqueline West
Set Decoration by: Jill Quertier
Art Direction by: Steven Lawrence, Mark Raggett
Music by: Stephen Warbeck
MPAA Rating: R for strong sexual content including dialogue, violence and language.
Distributed by: Fox Searchlight Pictures
Release Date: November 33, 2000
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