6/10
QUILLS (2000). You may have heard of the Marquis de Sade; if not, you will have heard of sadism. The word was based on his name. In this interesting film, we find the elderly Marquis, played by Geoffrey Rush, locked up in an asylum and determined to keep writing, even if blood or shit are the only inks available. He is aided and abetted by a charming young priest (Joaquin Phoenix) and Kate Winslet as a laundry maid; while his opponent is a physician (Michael Caine in full nasty mode), who is unable to recognise that he himself is a sadist, lacking his enemy’s self awareness.
