Quills

I write about the eternal truth that bind together all of mankind; the whole world over. We eat. We shit. We fuck. We kill. And we die. —Marquis de Sade

A 2000 biographical film, directed by Philip Kaufman and written by Pulitzer Prizer-winning playwright Doug Wright (adapting from his own play of the same name). The film follows the (highly fictionalized) last years of the Marquis de Sade (Geoffrey Rush, in an Academy Award-nominated role), the notorious French nobleman, author, philosopher, and libertine. The film is set at Charenton, a lunatic asylum where Sade has been sent for his continued publication of pornographic novels that double as nihilist philosophy tracts.

Charenton is run by the Abbé du Coulmier (Joaquin Phoenix), a rather progressive adminsitrator who allows the Marquis to continue writing, on the theory that it will "purge" the evil from his mind. Unbenknownst to the Abbé, however, Madeleine (Kate Winslet), his protégé and one of the asylum's chambermaids, has been secretly smuggling the works to the outside world, where they are published anonymously. This turns out to be a mistake, however, as the Emperor Napoleon (Ron Cook), realizing who the author is, orders the renowned "alienist" Dr. Royer-Collard (Michael Caine) to go to the asylum, where he is tasked with curing the infamous Marquis...by any means necessary.

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Provides examples of the following tropes:

• All Men Are Perverts: The movie's philosophical stance. On the other hand...
• All Women Are Lustful: The movie believes this, too.
• Author Tract: The Marquis' novels. The sadomasochistic pornography illustrates his nihilistic worldview.
• The Bad Guy Wins: Dr. Royer-Cpllard lives happily ever after, using the Marquis' work and the inmates' slave labor to make himself wealthy.
• Bedlam House: Charenton, particularly after Dr. Royer-Collard arrives.
• Big No: The Abbé gets one after the Marquis uses his crucifix to commit suicide before he can complete the Last Rites.
• Black Comedy Rape: The Marquis certainly finds it funny, at least in fiction.
• Brains and Bondage: The Marquis, naturally.
• Break the Cutie: Or, more accurately, Break The Abbé.
• But I Would Really Enjoy It: A rare male example. The Abbé lusts after Madeleine, but wants to remain true to his vows.
• Byronic Hero: The Marquis.
• Christianity Is Catholic: Well, it is early 19th century France.
• Cold-Blooded Torture: After Madeleine's murder, the grieving Abbé orders the Marquis' tongue cut out. Without an anaesthetic.
• Compensating for Something: The Marquis jokes that this is why Dr. Royer-Collard has such a big house.
• The Corrupter: The Marquis lives to drag others, especially the Abbé, down to his level. He succeeds, though it costs him his life.
• Critical Psychoanalysis Failure: After realizing that the Marquis was right all along, the Abbé is last seen continuing his writing from inside his own cell at the asylum.
• Culture Police: The Marquis is locked in an asylum for writing what amounts to porn. Eventually, his continued publication angers Napoleon enough to send in Dr. Royer-Collard to "fix" him.
  • Actually, the films states that the Marquis was initially imprisoned for brutalizing women - not for his writings.
• Dawson Casting: Kate Winslet, who was 25 at the time the film was released, plays Madeleine Leclerc, who was 17 at the time of de Sade's death.
• Depraved Bisexual: The Marquis flirts nonstop with the Abbé.
• Despair Event Horizon: See "Big No."
• Downer Ending: And how!
• Drop-Dead Gorgeous: Madeleine.
• Erotic Dream: The Abbé has one about Madeleine...after she's dead.
• Fetish Fuel: Naturally. If you're into that sort of thing.
• Friends with Benefits: The Marquis would really like to be one to Madeleine.
• Funny Schizophrenia: Averted. Hard.
• Gilded Cage: Dr. Royer-Collard allows his young wife Simone to decorate their home with whatever materials she likes, no matter how ornate or expensive they are...but instructs the architects to install doors that can only be locked from the outside. In his twisted mind, this apparently justifies his continued raping of a girl young enough to be his granddaughter every night.
• Go Among Mad People: The Marquis isn't insane in any medical sense, just really, really, really kinky. Unfortunately, the authorities don't recognize a difference.
• Go Mad From the Revelation: The Abbé, when he realizes that de Sade was right.
• Good Is Not Dumb: du Coulmier.
• Good Shepherd: The Abbé. It works out poorly for him, given the film's jaded viewpoint.
• Grey and Black Morality: When the Marquis de Sade is the sympathetic protagonist...
• Hannibal Lecture: The Marquis doles them out like candy, especially to the Abbé.
• The Hedonist: The Marquis.
• Hey, It's That Guy!: Bill Compton runs away with Dr. Royer-Collard's wife.
• Homoerotic Subtext: And how. Marquis is constantly trying to seduce the Abbe, which is most apparent in the scene where the Abbe orders him to strip. (Makes sense in context.)
  • Also the two men one of the chambermaids is having a threesome with. When they're having sex with her in the middle, you can clearly see them clutching at each other over her body.
  • Marquis is clearly no stranger to sodomy, since he orders his wife to bring him a custom-made dildo.
• Humans Are Bastards: The Marquis believes this. The film shares his philosophy.
• Insane Equals Violent: Averted by most inmates at Charenton, except Bouchon.
• Jail Bait: Dr. Royer-Collard, who is in his fifties, marries Simone, a girl of 15, which becomes fodder for a play that the Marquis puts on at the asylum. The whole business stops being funny when the doctor rapes her in her bed.
• Karma Houdini: Dr. Royer-Collard... Save for how Simone, his young trophy bride, runs off with the architect who designed their house.
• Love Martyr: The poor Marquis' wife.
• Luxury Prison Suite: The Marquis' cell at Charenton is outfitted like a gentleman's study. After he continues writing and publishing despite being ordered not to, the cell is slowly stripped of all furnishings, until it merely consists of bare walls and floor.
• Mad Artist: The Marquis affects this, when told that Madeleine has been killed by inmate inspired by his prose, but he shows his True Colors eventually.
• Mad Doctor: Dr. Royer-Collard.
• Morally-Ambiguous Doctorate: Dr. Royer-Collard, the film's only truly evil character, is also the only one with a degree.
• Naive Newcomer: The new Abbé brought in at the end of the film.
• Nietzsche Wannabe: More like Nietzsche was a De Sade Wannabe.
• Psychopathic Manchild: Bouchon.
• Pyromaniac: One of the asylum's inmates, who triggers the film's climax when he sets Charenton on fire.
• The Queen's Latin: Every character in the film is French, and every character in the film speaks with a British accent (even the ones played by American actors).
• Rape as Drama: Dr. Royer-Collard rapes his teenage wife Simone. Bouchon tries to rape Madeleine backstage at the Marquis' play. In the film's climax, he successfully rapes her, then murders her.
  • No he doesn't, the Abbé said that she died a Virgin.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: The Abbé. He gets a lot less reasonable as the movie goes on.
• Room Full of Crazy: Stripped naked and tossed in a dank oubliette, the Marquis continues to write on the walls, using his own feces as an ink.
• Sanity Slippage: The Abbé starts to get this, after Madeleine's death.
• Screw The Rules, I Have Connections!: How the Marquis continues to live in luxury, and even publish, even though he is institutionalized. Until Napoleon tires of his continued antics, that is.
• The Shrink: Dr. Royer-Collard is a Harmful Shrink.
• Shut UP, Hannibal: "You're not the Antichrist. You're just a malcontent who can spell."
• Single-Issue Psychology: Dr. Royer-Collard practices this, believing that there are no mental illnesses that cannot be cured through application of negative reinforcement (for example, repeated dunkings in water). It works about as well as you'd expect.
• Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: Way, way over on the cynical side.
• Stalker with a Crush: Bouchon.
• Straight Edge Evil: Dr. Royer-Collard. By the end, however, he has gotten a mistress and begun making money by disseminating the Marquis' novels.
• A Taste of the Lash: Dr. Royer-Collard orders Madeleine flogged for smuggling the Marquis' writing out of Charenton. The Abbé later flogs himself for ordering the Marquis' tongue cut out.
• Three-Way Sex: Three of Madeleine's coworkers are shown having some while spreading gossip between them.
• Torture Technician: One of Dr. Royer-Collard's footmen also mans his "treatment" devices.
• There Are No Therapists: Averted. There is a therapist. Unfortunately, he's evil.
• Upper Class Wit: The Marquis.
• Villain with Good Publicity: Dr. Royer-Collard.
• Wicked Cultured: Both the Marquis and Dr. Royer-Collard.
• Your Cheating Heart: Mostly averted. Dr. Royer-Collard's child-bride Simone shamelessly flirts with the hunky architect that's renovating the doctor's house. They run away together, but it's portrayed as more of an escape from a terrible situation than malicious cheating.