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.
Nominated for 3 Oscars. 18 wins & 45 nominations total
Top Critics Reviews
fresh:
A marvelous, saucy romp.
– Rene Rodriguez,
Miami Herald,
22 Dec 2000
rotten:
More heavy-handed than memorable.
– Desmond Ryan,
Philadelphia Inquirer,
22 Dec 2000
fresh:
Quills, about the marquis de Sade, is a voluptuous impasto. Everything in it -- the colors, the locations, the people -- seems swirled with a mixture of decadence and grace.
– Peter Rainer,
New York Magazine/Vulture,
21 May 2001
fresh:
It pokes at sexual taboos - it's pretty subversive, considering - but sexuality and creativity are indelibly linked, and its true subject is expression, repression and catharsis.
– Derek Adams,
Time Out,
24 Jun 2006
fresh:
"Quills" is sensational in every sense of the word.