suggap

Quills is a 2000 historical drama film directed by Philip Kaufman and adapted from the Obie award-winning 1995 play by Doug Wright, who also wrote the original screenplay. Inspired by Marquis de Sade, the film re-imagines the last years of the Marquis's incarceration in the insane asylum at Charenton. It stars Geoffrey Rush as de Sade, Kate Winslet as laundress Madeleine "Maddie" LeClerc, Joaquin Phoenix as the Abbé de Coulmier, and Michael Caine as Dr. Royer-Collard.

Plot

In Paris, the encarcerated Marquis de Sade is confined to the asylum at Charenton, overseen by the Abbé du Coulmier. The Marquis has been publishing his work through laundress Madeleine "Maddy" LeClerc, who smuggles manuscripts through an anonymous horseman to a publisher. The Marquis' latest work, Justine, is published on the black market to great success. Emperor Napoléon I Bonaparte orders all copies burned and the author shot, but his advisor, Delbené, suggest another idea: send Dr. Royer-Collard to silence the Marquis. Meanwhile, the Abbé teaches Madeleine to read and write.

Awards