The Marquis de Sade- the father of Sadism and perhaps one of the most morally ambiguous characters in the history of mankind...
Sade’s works are explicit, vulgar.incendiary and ’’sadistic’’...
His works reek of moral pollution and indicate the collapse of the very essence of humanity in one man
Yet, there are many who uphold Sade as an iconoclaust and a destroyer of Social Pretences...a liberator of women and a champion of their sexual freedom in an era of tight collars and stiff upper lips
Still more claim Sade as the True Son of the French Revolution, an indicator of the times, where blood flowed freely and humanity was at its decrepit best...and social mores were challenged so much that all codes of decency collapsed
And so, It is agreed that Sade is to be held as a the last strain of a virus-preserved in labs-as a warning to all humanity of how absolute evil can live in all minds of men and urge us to understand the need to stop and ponder...
Quills is an almost fictitious-semi-biographical- account of the Sade’s last days in Charenton asylum for the Criminally insane Sade was a man who had spent almost thirty years of his adulthood in prison-he was arrested at the age of 16 for molesting a young girl-and hence loneliness and frustrations have taken their toll
He is now a spitting, raving man whose only solace is his quill and paper as he vents out all the evil that torment his soul in writing
Sade’s writing is atonce cynical, vulgar and darkly humorous-but its not the literary worth of these works that matter to him
His writing is compulsive-his only sorce of pleasure-whereby he seeks to satisfy ’’ALL his senses’’
With each new torture meted out to Sade by his jailors-his works become more and more convuluted and Dark...the same tortures are carried out to much greater extents by his own characters
Sade manages to get his works published through the assistance of a chambermaid and all France is attracted, shocked and repulsed-all at once!
Napolean wants Sade silenced...a new doctor is sent to the asylum
The irony of the tale is that the doctor seems to have sprung from one of Sade’s own tales-a purely evil cold heartless man whose only interest is himself Sade’s ink and quills are snatched-Sade writes with his own blood on his clothes
And while finally Sade is silenced for ever, the entire institution collapses, with few left to tell the tale...
Quills deserves greatness not just for its theme or the script-but for the greatness of its actors
Geoffery Rush (in an Oscar nominated performance)as the Sade, is in his own words-a Flamboyant Drunken Peacock with no goodness left in him after all the torments he has faced... Rush turns the entire saga into a dark comedy-which admittedly is terrifyingly funny
As Rush struts and blasphemes-seducing every victim ripe for temptation-you watch mesmerised-instead of being disgusted!
And then, there’s Michael Caine-menacing and foreboding-unrepentantly wicked-who is set to punish sade for his evil!
Both Understated and flamboyant-at will...Caine seems to stand like a giant in the screen dwarfing the people around him
Infact at times Joaquin Phoenix -the only mediocre performance on stage-as the priest, who finally descends to the depths of hell with Sade-seems completely awed by these two veterans around him
Kate Winslet is one actress who surprises me everytime with her willingness to cast herself in the most offbeat roles possible-and here too-she is a joy to watch
She is the chambemaid enticed by Sade’s evil genius and yet wary enough to know the demarcation between fact and fiction...
The script as such is blissfully wicked...
An example- ’’you are lucky’’, says the priest to Sade ’’If The doctor, instead of me, was asked to punish you, he would have flayed you alive’’
Quick comes Sade’s flat reply ’’the Doctor, my friend, is a man after my own heart!’’
Quills, despite all the explicitness and gore, reminds you of the good old days of classic movies that enslave you with their greatness from the very first viewing and linger on forever! A movie definitely not for everyone-but a classic nevertheless!