Quills

[pomba gira]

Anyone seen this? Geoffrey Rush playing the Marquis de Sade during the period of his imprisonment at the Charenton insane asylum? I am not a big movie watcher but really enjoyed this one. It actually kept me engaged enough that the usual unfortunate movie watching dynamic between Tokagemaru & I didn't come into play (I have that highly interactive movie watching style that is such a part of my culture and he just wants to watch the damn movie, thank you very much... I've met quite a few other mixed couples who share this issue). I'm usually seriously annoyed by the kind of artistic license this film takes with actual history (they really ran roughshod over historical fact), but in this case the statements about the drive toward artistic expression, purging vs. repression of mental demons, moral/political hypocrisy, and lots, lots more were powerful enough that I could excuse it. Not to mention the very stylish eroticism & wit that kept it from being just another boring "statement" film.

Done a lot of thinking about this one... and apparently am not alone, 29 pages of very cerebral comments/reviews on IMDB! One thing I can't quite make up my mind about: Who really "won" in the end?

[spoilers ahead!!]

The Marquis is physically destroyed by the evil doctor, but the evil doctor ends up immortalizing the very works he tried so hard to suppress. So from an artistic point of view, de Sade was the victor. From a practical point of view, though, there isn't much victory in being chained naked in a hole and having your tongue sliced out. And the doc pretty well fucks over the poor hapless Abbe, too... but in the end he seems to have replaced his own brutal "treatment" methods with the Abbe's more enlightened ones. So... if anyone's seen this (if you haven't, you should) ... what did YOU think?

[SuZQZ]

I haven't seen this yet, but have been wanting to. I will definitely keep an eye out for it now. (Oh, and thanks for the warning, I didn't read past the spoiler warning)

[Nienna]

Yeah. I was all over this when it came out, being a Geoffrey Rush and Sade fan. It's an awesome movie. I own it!

[phee]

GOOD FRIGGEN FILM

[Kit Kat P]

I loved it, it's one of those I enjoy renting again w/ a friend

[Necromanta]

Watch Salo.

[the eternal]

I think this will be short (for me ) :

Quills is great!

But of course,

Geoffrey Rush is awesome in just about everything he does

As is Kate Winslet

And usually Joaquin Phoenix, though I hate to admit it.

Pomba, your assessment is right.

I view it like the homophobes who cry holy murder about gay rights, maybe do a gay bashing or two,

and then come out later.

G. Rush was just amazing in this film. His performance alone made it worth watching.

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One more thing, DON'T see Salo.

I'm down for weird

I'm cool with sex and violence.

I'm not down with 100% nihilest brutality where:

rape is rampant, abuse is everywhere, and people eat their own feces for dinner.

If I want to lose my faith in humanity, I'll read a press release from the White House.

Just my .02 though.

[Homicidalheathen]

Yes I saw it and it was wonderful....coarse I have always had a facintation with the Marquis de Sade but I thought it was a wonderful movie either way.

[Necromanta]

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One more thing, DON'T see Salo.

I'm down for weird

I'm cool with sex and violence.

I'm not down with 100% nihilest brutality where:

rape is rampant, abuse is everywhere, and people eat their own feces for dinner.

If I want to lose my faith in humanity, I'll read a press release from the White House.

Just my .02 though.

Passolini was an amazing director. You really have to look past the harsh content of the movie.

It's a depiction of WWII's version of Dante's Inferno and the seven layers of hell combined with The 120 Days of Sodom by the Marquis de Sade.

It's really an interesting collaboration. I thought it was more of an artistic movie. I believe that "The Canterbury Tales" (Passolini's take on it) was more intense than this movie. Anyway.. if you have a stomach for it; I'd recommend it. That or I'm nuts. :]

P.S.

Honestly, in my opinion; the book 120 Days of Sodom is much more detailed and sickening than the film.

P.S.2 Passolini was martyred for this film.

[hunhee]

I saw this too when it first came out.. the movie was nicely done.