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 the life of the 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. Well received by critics, Quills garnered acclaim for its performances from Rush and Winslet and for its screenplay. The film received nominations for three Academy Awards, four BAFTA Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. The National Board of Review named it the Best Film of 2000. The Writers Guild of America awarded Doug Wright with the Paul Selvin Award. The film was a modest art house success, averaging $27,709 per screen its debut weekend, and eventually grossing $17,989,277 internationally. Noted for its artistic licenses, 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.
Plot In Paris, the incarcerated 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's 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, suggests another idea: send Dr. Royer-Collard to silence the Marquis. Meanwhile, the Abbé teaches Madeleine to read and write. Dr. Royer-Collard later arrives. The Abbé rejects Royer-Collard's offers of aggressive archaic "treatments" and speaks with the Marquis himself, who swears obedience. Royer-Collard then travels to the Panthemont Convent in Paris to retrieve his promised bride, the underage Simone. They are given a run-down chateau by the Emperor, with a young architect, Prouix, on hand for its renovation. The hasty marriage incites much gossip at the asylum, prompting the Marquis to write a farce to be performed at a public exhibition. The audacious play, titled "The Crimes of Love", is interrupted when the inmate Bouchon molests Madeleine off-stage, prompting her to hit him in the face with an iron. Royer-Collard shuts down the public theater and demands that the Abbé do more to control the Marquis. Infuriated, the Abbé confiscates the Marquis's quills and ink, prompting more subversive behavior, including a story written in wine on bedsheets and in blood on clothing. The Marquis is eventually left naked in an empty cell. A maid reveals that Madeleine has been helping the Marquis. Madeleine is whipped on the order of Royer-Collard until the Abbé stops him by offering himself instead and declaring that she will be sent away. That night, she visits the Abbé's chamber to beg him to reconsider sending her away and confesses her love for him in the process, prompting him to kiss her. However, he abruptly breaks away. Meanwhile, Royer-Collard rapes Simone on their wedding night, and keeps her as a virtual prisoner. She purchases a copy of Justine, seduces Prioux, and the lovers run off together. She leaves behind a letter explaining her actions and her copy of Justine. Upon finding this, Royer-Collard seizes on the Marquis as the source of his troubles and embarks upon a quest for revenge. About to be sent away from Charenton, Madeleine begs a last story from the Marquis, which is to be relayed to her through the asylum patients. Bouchon, the inmate at the end of the relay, is excited by the story, breaks out of his cell, and kills Madeleine. The asylum is set afire by the pyromaniac Dauphin and the inmates break out of their cells. Madeleine's body is found by her blind mother and the Abbé in the laundry vat. Bouchon is captured and imprisoned inside an iron dummy. The Abbé blames the Marquis for Madeleine's death and prods him into a fury. The Marquis claims that he had been with Madeleine in every way imaginable, only to be told that she died a virgin. The Abbé cuts out the Marquis's tongue as punishment. The Abbé then has a dream in which he has sex with Madeline's corpse. The Marquis's health declines, but he perseveres, decorating his oubliette with a story, using feces as ink. As the Marquis lies dying, the Abbé reads him the last rites and offers him a crucifix to kiss. The Marquis defiantly swallows the crucifix and chokes to death on it. A year later, the new Abbé arrives at Charenton and is given the grand tour. The asylum has been converted into a print shop, with the inmates as its staff. The books being printed are the works of the Marquis. At the end of the tour, the new Abbé meets his predecessor, who resides in the Marquis's old cell. Yearning to write, he begs paper and a quill from the new Abbé, who is herded off by Royer-Collard, now overseer of the asylum. However, the peephole opens, and Madeleine's mother thrusts paper, quill, and ink through. The Abbé begins to scribble furiously, with the Marquis providing the narration.
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