History Film / Quills

* BaddassLongcoat: Abbé wore some banging cassock.

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** The real Abbé was pretty corrupt and in a relationship with de Sade (he needed little seducing), who got special priviledges while the rest of the inmates lived in squalid conditions and were treated pretty poorly (when it came to the plays, they were given minor roles- the big ones were given to professional actors). The Abbé basically ran Charenton like it was his own personal palace, and unlike the film was actually a commited Bonapartist- it was not the government that complained about how he ran the institute, but the French medical etablishment, largely because he was grossly unqualified. And the terror baths were ''his'' idea, along with a lot of other cruel and outdated techniques. While he ''did'' encourage patients to express themselves, he wasn't really much interested in curing them.

** Dr Royer-Collard was a monarchist, not a Bonapartist, and as mentioned was not the man who introduced terror baths to Charenton, nor did he have anything to do with stopping the plays, as he arrived years after the French authorities closed them down (while the theatre at Charleton was not closed until a year after de Sade died). He was a ReasonableAuthorityFigure (certainly compared to the movie) and his only "mistreatment" of de Sade was trying to get him thrown out of Charleton on the - completely accurate - grounds that he was not mentally ill and only got himself institutionalised as a cushy alternative to prison; in addition, the real de Sade died peacefully in his sleep, and Collard had nothing to do with it.

* JailBait: 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 [[RapeAsDrama rapes her in her bed]].

* MadArtist: The Marquis affects this, when told that [[spoiler:Madeleine has been killed by inmate inspired by his prose]], but he shows his TrueColors eventually.

* {{Hypocrite}}: Dr. Royer-Collard denounces the sexual amorality and disgutiness of Sade's writing, while raping his 16-year-old wife. [[spoiler: He also accuses the Abbé of exploting the inmates to gain money, while he does the does the exact same thing at the end of the movie]].

* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: Dr Royer-Collard was a monarchist, not a Bonapartist, and as mentioned was not the man who introduced terror baths to Charenton, nor did he have anything to do with stopping the plays, as he arrived years after the French authorities closed them down (while the theatre at Charleton was not closed until a year after de Sade died). He was a ReasonableAuthorityFigure (certainly compared to the movie) and his only "mistreatment" of de Sade was trying to get him thrown out of Charleton on the- completely accurate- grounds that he was not mentally ill and only got himself institutionalised as a cushy alternative to prison; in addition, the real de Sade died peacefully in his sleep, and Collard had nothing to do with it. Ironically, the Abbé ''also'' gets this, in the sense that [[spoiler: the real de Sade never had his tongue cut out by anyone]]. Napoleon also counts, in the sense that in RealLife his involvement in the whole affair was limited mainly to having de Sade arrested- after that, he didn't give a crap about the man and was happy to forget about him.

* DawsonCasting: 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. And the 24 year old Creator/JoaquinPhoenix plays the 60-odd Abbé de Coulmier.

* Hyppocrite: Dr. Royer-Collard denounces the sexual amorality and disgutiness of Sade's writing, while raping his 16-year-old wife. He also accuses the Abbé of exploting the inmates to gain money, while he does the does the exact same thing at the end of the movie.

** The Marquis de Sade had already written and published ''Justine'' long before he went to Charenton (in fact, it was one of the books -- the other being ''Juliette'' -- that got him locked up; also, despite what the film implies, much of his infamous work was published before the Revolution, and wasn't inspired by it). He had been in and out of prison for years less for his writings than for a string of sexual offences, including abduction and rape. Most of the stuff he published in Charenton was both rather tame and not particularly good, being rejected by the publishers who saw it. He was kept under regular police surveillance (which the film does not show) and for good reason, and the only reason he was in Charleton in the first place was because he abused the hell out of the InsanityDefence to get a cushy sentence. He was a collosal {{Jerkass}}, morbidly obese at the time of the movie, and deeply unpopular with many of the other inmates for his special treatment. Kate Winslets character was only 13-15 in RealLife when de Sade began his lengthy affair with her, and he had paranoid delusions that she was a spy. He paid her 3 frances for each liason and, in real life, [[spoiler: she was not murdered by anyone.]]

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/quills.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Meet the Marquis de Sade. The pleasure is all his.]]

Charenton is run by the Abbé du Coulmier (Creator/JoaquinPhoenix), a rather progressive administrator 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 (Creator/KateWinslet), 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 (MichaelCaine) to go to the asylum, where he is tasked with curing the infamous Marquis...by any means necessary.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: As pointed out by historians, the film is very, very diffrent from how the events played out in real life.

* HomoeroticSubtext: Marquis is constantly trying to seduce the Abbe, which is most apparent in the scene where the Abbe orders him to strip. Marquis is clearly no stranger to sodomy, since he orders his wife to bring him a custom-made dildo.

* AllMenArePerverts: The movie's philosophical stance. On the other hand...

** Actually, the films states that the Marquis was initially imprisoned for brutalizing women - not for his writings.

* HomoeroticSubtext: 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.)
** Marquis is clearly no stranger to sodomy, since he orders his wife to bring him a custom-made dildo.

** [[spoiler:Unless you count the fact that his young trophy bride runs off with the architect who designed their house.]]

* AllWomenAreLustful: The movie believes this, too.

* BedlamHouse: Charenton, particularly after Dr. Royer-Collard arrives.

* BrainsAndBondage: The Marquis, naturally.
* BreakTheCutie: Or, more accurately, [[spoiler:Break The Abbé]].

* ByronicHero: The Marquis.

* Creat

* DespairEventHorizon: [[spoiler: See "BigNo."]]
* DownerEnding: And how!
* DropDeadGorgeous: [[spoiler: Madeleine.]]

* FunnySchizophrenia: Averted.

* GoodIsNotDumb: du Coulmier.

* TheHedonist: The Marquis.

* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler:Dr. Royer-Collard.]]

* LoveMartyr: The poor Marquis' wife.

* MadDoctor: Dr. Royer-Collard.

* PsychopathicManchild: Bouchon.

* TheShrink: Dr. Royer-Collard is a Harmful Shrink.

* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: Way, ''way'' over on the cynical side.
* StalkerWithACrush: Bouchon.

* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Dr. Royer-Collard.
* WickedCultured: Both the Marquis and Dr. Royer-Collard.

A 2000 biographical film, directed by Philip Kaufman and written by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Doug Wright (adapting from his own play of the same name). The film follows the ([[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory highly fictionalized]]) last years of the Creator/MarquisDeSade (Geoffrey Rush, in an UsefulNotes/AcademyAward-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.

A 2000 biographical film, directed by Philip Kaufman and written by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Doug Wright (adapting from his own play of the same name). The film follows the ([[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory highly fictionalized]]) last years of the Creator/MarquisDeSade (Geoffrey Rush, in an AcademyAward-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.

** 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.

* NietzscheWannabe

* NietzscheWannabe: More like Nietzsche was a De Sade Wannabe.

Charenton is run by the Abbé du Coulmier (Creator/JoaquinPhoenix), a rather progressive administrator 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 (KateWinslet), 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 (MichaelCaine) to go to the asylum, where he is tasked with curing the infamous Marquis...by any means necessary.

* UpperClassWit: The Marquis.

Charenton is run by the Abbé du Coulmier (JoaquinPhoenix), a rather progressive administrator 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 (KateWinslet), 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 (MichaelCaine) to go to the asylum, where he is tasked with curing the infamous Marquis...by any means necessary.

* DawsonCasting: 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. And the 24 year old JoaquinPhoenix plays the 60-odd Abbé de Coulmier.

** The Marquis de Sade had already written and published ''Justine'' long before he went to Charenton (in fact, it was one of the books that got him locked up; also, despite what the film implies, much of his infamous work was published before the Revolution, and wasn't inspired by it). He had been in and out of prison for years less for his writings than for a string of sexual offences, including abduction and rape. Most of the stuff he published in Charenton was both rather tame and not particularly good, being rejected by the publishers who saw it. He was kept under regular police surveillance (which the film does not show) and for good reason, and the only reason he was in Charleton in the first place was because he abused the hell out of the InsanityDefence to get a cushy sentence. He was a collosal {{Jerkass}}, morbidly obese at the time of the movie, and deeply unpopular with many of the other inmates for his special treatment. Kate Winslets character was only 13-15 in RealLife when de Sade began his lengthy affair with her, and he had paranoid delusions that she was a spy. He paid her 3 frances for each liason and, in real life, [[spoiler: she was not murdered by anyone.]]