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Quills [DVD] [2001]

Geoffrey Rush , Kate Winslet , Philip Kaufman    Suitable for 18 years and over   DVD
4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
Price: £7.00 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Quills [DVD] [2001] + The Libertine [DVD]
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Product details

  • Actors: Geoffrey Rush, Kate Winslet, Joaquin Phoenix, Michael Caine, Billie Whitelaw
  • Directors: Philip Kaufman
  • Writers: Doug Wright
  • Producers: Des McAnuff, Julia Chasman, Mark Huffam, Nick Wechsler, Peter Kaufman
  • Format: PAL
  • Language: English
  • Subtitles: Czech, Danish, English, Finnish, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Swedish
  • Subtitles For The Hearing Impaired: English
  • Region: Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe. Read more about DVD formats.)
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9 - 1.85:1
  • Number of discs: 1
  • Classification: 18
  • Studio: 20th Century Fox Home Ent.
  • DVD Release Date: 29 Oct 2001
  • Run Time: 119 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B00005NOM3
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 17,163 in Film & TV (See Top 100 in Film & TV)

Reviews

From Amazon.co.uk

With bedroom eyes and the mischievous smirk of an insatiable roué, Geoffrey Rush is a perfect choice to play the Marquis de Sade in Quills, adapted by Doug Wright from his own stage play and directed by Philip Kaufman. Imprisoned in France's Charenton asylum at the turn of the 18th century, de Sade is a stately court jester in dishevelled finery, and Rush imbues the role with the fierce urgency of a writer whose sexual fantasies are his sole remaining defence against repression and hypocrisy. Deprived of quill and ink, he writes with wine, then blood, then his own faeces--a descent into madness or an impassioned refusal to be silenced? Quills embraces freedom of expression ("such beauty, such abomination", as one character notes) while affirming that all freedoms have a price.

De Sade smuggles manuscripts out of Charenton with help from Madeleine (Kate Winslet), a virginal laundress who relishes de Sade's scandalous prose--a divine irony since she was taught to read by asylum abbé Coulmier (Joaquin Phoenix), whose desire for Madeleine is suppressed by Catholic propriety. The delicate dynamic of this trio is shattered by the arrival of Royer-Collard (Michael Caine, appearing somewhat comatose), a righteous hypocrite appointed to silence de Sade once and for all. It's all very engrossing as a piece of theatre (which it still is, despite Kaufman's elegant filming), and although Wright's literate dialogue limits de Sade to zesty ripostes and sneering perversity, Rush's intensity ensures that the marquis's plight is no laughing matter. Quills has a point, makes it without condescension and knows the difference between madness and passion . --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

Product Description

DVD Special Features:

Audio commentary by screenwriter Doug Wright
2 featurettes: "Marquis on the Marquee", "Creating Charenton", "Dressing the Part"
TV spot
Theatrical trailer
Stills gallery
Fact and film -- text pages

1.85:1 (widescreen 16:9)
2.0 stereo
Subtitles: Czech, Danish, Finish, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Swedish


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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
By Kona TOP 1000 REVIEWER VINE™ VOICE
Format:DVD
"Quills" tells of the last days of the infamous Marquis de Sade (Geoffrey Rush), who wrote erotic stories that shocked and delighted readers in 18th century France. He is living a rather privileged life as an inmate in an asylum run by a sympathetic cleric (Joaquin Phoenix), where he produces his plays for the nobility. Sade is allowed to write, but not to publish; however, a young laundry maid (Kate Winslet) admires him and smuggles his work out of the asylum. The Emperor, Napoleon, dislikes his books and orders that Sade be stopped once and for all. Sade's paper, ink, and quills are confiscated, and the cruel Dr. Royer-Collard (Michael Caine) is sent to oversee the asylum.

The dialogue is literate and elegant and the acting is first-rate. Rush is dazzlingly flamboyant, Winslet is winsome and sweet, Phoenix is noble and earnest, and Caine is despicably cruel. The story and the brutal way it is presented, however, were repellant to me, and I found it difficult to watch. If cruelty offends you, you probably won't like "Quills."

Kona

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Geoffrey Rush's best role 5 Jan 2012
By BPR
Format:DVD
Many people give Shakespeare in Love credit as Geoffrey Rush's best role but I have wondered on occasion if these people had seen the magnificent Quills in which he plays the Marquis de Sade in an insane asylum extremely well. He is surrounded by a great supporting cast including Michael Caine, Kate Winslet and Joaquin Phoenix all putting in brilliant performances. The screenplay by Doug Wright is very well written and packs a punch when required, managing to give all the characters the right amount of development throughout. The most interesting aspect for me was the 'friendship' between the Marquis de Sade and Abbe (Joaquim Phoenix), especially as they are different in the extremes in the fact that Abbe has chosen a life of chastity and the Marquis de Sade writes explicit manuscripts and implores people to open up to their sexual thoughts. The ending was excellent also. If you're a fan of well-written, well-acted period films, Quills is highly recommended. 4.5/5
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars All the Nice Girls Like A Jailer 15 April 2012
By Charles Vasey TOP 500 REVIEWER VINE™ VOICE
Format:DVD
This is a grim (very fictional) piece dwelling on the lowest common denominators of life enlightened by some excellent acting. In the service of a good story the Marquis de Sade is transformed from the eponymous sadist into the Hugh Hefner of the Napoleonic era; a mixture of Dexter and a Donald McGill postcard. Played by Geoffrey Rush the Marquis has all the best lines though Joaquin Phoenix mounts (as the Marquis might say) a gallant rearguard action. Michael Caine is marvellously horrible, in an entirely reasonable fashion, as the nasty doctor and Kate Winslet will lead many a young man astray. There is even room for Vampire Bill Compton. The oscillation from a Georges Feydeau farce to a Hannibal Lector sequel is perhaps the oddest feature of the film; although, as, once again, the Marquis might say, it is just a play.
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20 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Pornographers make unlikely poster boys for the freedom of expression. This is true in the age of Larry Flint as much as it was true 200 years ago, at the times of the grandfather of all hardcore pornographers, the Marquis de Sade; and any movie addressing this particular issue will find itself walking a tight rope. Philip Kaufman, a veteran of the genre, succeeds admirably; albeit using a script which somewhat bends de Sade's biography and leaves out the more graphic details of his writings (thus, however, also neatly avoiding another NC17 rating, which would have been sure to follow otherwise). But portraying every aspect of "Justine" or any other of the Marquis's brainchildren is not crucial to this movie - in fact, it virtually banks on the fact that its viewers have either read de Sade's works or heard about them, thus instantly placing its audience on equal terms with the members of the society in which the Marquis lived, which oftentimes loudly condemned his works while at the same time clandestinely gobbling them down or, like Dr. Royer-Collard (Michael Caine), sent on imperial orders to Charenton to forever "cure" de Sade's "disease," practicing his preachings instead of their own.

This movie deserves five stars for Geoffrey Rush's portrayal of the Marquis alone. Taking up yet another challenging role, he becomes Kaufman's and script writer/playwright Doug Wright's de Sade as perfectly as no one besides him could have done. We see an aging Marquis who, although locked up in his cell in Charenton, is as arrogant by birthright as he is by nature; and thoroughly convinced of his own superiority, has tricked himself into an "I'm only here because I allow you to do this to me" attitude....

Intertwined with the battle about de Sade's freedom to write (and more importantly, to publish) is his and the Abbé's battle for Madeleine (Kate Winslet), the Marquis's ally in the publication of his writings as much as she is Coulmier's prodigy and pupil. Madeleine is in many respects the personification of the qualities each of the two men stands for; but more than that, she is the object of both of their unfulfilled desires. Ultimately, knowing that he has lost all his battles, chained to a prison wall and the Abbé at his throat, challenging the Marquis to admit that he loved Madeleine and to lay bare the weakness he had so striven to hide, de Sade tries to win yet one more time; disdainfully attempting to turn the exchange with the Abbé into the ultimate male spitting contest and thus exploit the limitations imposed by Coulmier's priesthood. But it is at the expense of a lie, and Coulmier sees through him. And whereas the Abbé soon thereafter comes face to face with his own demons, the Marquis is left with nothing but a final, desperate, equally abominable and grandiose act of rebellion.

While Geoffrey Rush alone would have carried the film even with lesser actors by his side, it certainly helps to see him paired up with Winslet, Phoenix and Caine and a well-chosen cast of supporting actors; not to speak of the outstanding cinematography. There may be plot twists that seem far-fetched (such as the "liberation" of Royer-Collard's convent-raised teenage wife Simone by de Sade's writings, and her running away with a handsome interior decorator), but ultimately, none of that is crucial to the movie's central conflict. Superb acting and direction more than make up for whatever minor flaws one might detect in the plot (and even for the license Kaufman and Wright are taking with biographical facts, something I am not always quick to forgive). The screen positively explodes every time Rush and Phoenix face off, and it crackles with tension and barely repressed desire in their respective scenes with Winslet. Great actors feed off each other, and in that respect, the movie probably would have benefited from a more direct confrontation between Rush and Caine as well. But even outside the clash of the film's four protagonists, many little scenes are skillfully used to shed additional light on the issues presented. Just think of Napoleon's court reader, feeling duty-bound to ask "Must I, your Majesty?" before proceeding with some of the more gory details of the copy of "Justine" that has fallen into the emperor's hands; or de Sade's wife telling Royer-Collard that the Marquis's greatest crime consisted in making her fall in love with him. - This movie would have deserved every Academy Award it was nominated for, hands down. Given its subject matter, however, it is anybody's guess why it didn't win a single one of them. Read more ›

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars well it's got Geoffrey Rush in it 12 Jan 2012
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
I enjoy historical epics and romps like Elizabeth and Tom Jones - I like them to be gritty and stuffed full of good dialogue. And I don't care if they're factual or fictional or somewhere in between! Quills is hugely entertaining and it seems that Geoffrey Rush cannot "do" a bad film. The antics of de Sade to produce stories no matter what they do to him is admirable!
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17 of 21 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars amazing 17 Aug 2001
By A Customer
Format:VHS Tape
Quills is an amazing feast of actors, and has a great story line.

GEOFFREY RUSH ("Shine", "House on Haunted Hill", "Les Misérables, and some more) woes, frightens, shocks and seduces you with his absolutly amazing portrayl as the eccentric, seductive Marquis de Sade. Never has an actor excelled like this, and maybe this is his finest hour.

KATE WINSLET ("Titantic") also amazes with her stunning performance as Madeline, the washerwoman who befriends the Marquis and smuggles his erotic fiction from the aslyum.

JOAQUIN PHOENIX ("Gladiator") is equally stunning with his portral of the Abbé Coulmier, the priest who tries to reform the Marquis.

MICHAEL CAINE is amazing in his part of Dr. Antoine Royer-Collard -- the doctor who's harsh methods and style make the Marquis look sane. He excells as the doctor, sent by the King, to "silence" the Marquis' writing.

"Quills" is an amazingly written tale about censorship. The film is sexy, funny and tragic at the same time. This film is one to watch.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Superior!
s i m p l y d o e s n ' t g e t a n y b e t t e r !
Published 4 months ago by Christian Edlmayer
5.0 out of 5 stars RUSH
I found Geoffrey Rush's performance astonishing in this film about the Marquis de Sade. Extraordinary story telling made celluloid. Glad I bought it.
Published 5 months ago by ms r dicker
5.0 out of 5 stars First Class Entertainment
This film is an absolute delight and deals with a whole range of themes; mental illness, sex, religion, literature, politics, violence and censorship in a marvellously entertaining... Read more
Published 14 months ago by J. Turley
1.0 out of 5 stars Oh dear - major idea fail
Fantastic cast, extraordinary write-ups: I expected a lot. What I got was a repetitive and largely unknitted script, a reduction of the Marquis de Sade from a psychopath who... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Lulubeth
3.0 out of 5 stars Acting masterclass
Good film, stunning cast. Quills is a fictional account of the final months in the life of the Marquis de Sade. Read more
Published 24 months ago by Will
5.0 out of 5 stars vice and virtue rendered vicious in relativity of time
Whatever the faults of this very courageous and wortwhile cinematic attempt featuring the life of a somewhat controversial man who was accused of almost everything from perversion... Read more
Published on 5 Feb 2009 by doctor oz MB,MRCP
5.0 out of 5 stars And the Oscar should have gone to ... this movie & Mr. Rush!
Pornographers make unlikely poster boys for the freedom of expression. This is true in the age of Larry Flint as much as it was true 200 years ago, at the times of the grandfather... Read more
Published on 11 Feb 2003 by Themis-Athena
5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful piece of Cinema!
This is a surprisingly engrossing and entertaining film, which left me feeling like I had seen one of Hollywood's better efforts!

The story is pretty simple really! Read more

Published on 20 Jan 2003 by H. Trivass
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