Quills
Fox Searchlight Pictures | Release Date: November 22, 2000 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
70
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 31 Critic Reviews
Positive:
24
Mixed:
4
Negative:
3
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
Kaufman's startling Quills gives us an anatomy of fear, images both silken swift and molten hot, scenes that disrupt and inflame the imagination. Read full review
90
Rolling StonePeter Travers
A savage comedy of sexual extremes; the barbed laughs draw blood.
90
Washington PostStephen Hunter
Profane, sacrilegious, pornographic, sadistic and Sade-istic, titillating and the most honorable movie of the year. Read full review
90
SalonStephanie Zacharek
It's an unapologetic dazzler, which is why it's never overwhelmed by its themes. Read full review
88
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
This playful, immensely entertaining movie knows that art is in the eye of the beholder. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeJay Carr
A witty yet fiery and, in the best sense, provocative play of ideas about freedom of expression. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Finds a tone that remains more entertaining than depressing, more absorbing than alarming. Read full review
88
USA TodayMike Clark
Uniformly robust acting puts still more feathers in the caps of Rush, Winslet and Caine. Read full review
80
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
Occasionally becomes pretentious and shrill -- sometimes Mr. Wright isn't aware that his material is so good that he doesn't need to comment on his characters. Read full review
80
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
Kaufman's earnestly overblown celebration of the Marquis de Sade. Read full review
80
Film.comPeter Brunette
The dialogue is sparkingly witty, and Phoenix and Winslet are excellent in what are, after all, meant to be fairly one-dimensional roles. Read full review
80
L.A. WeeklyJohn Patterson
Remarkable energy and wit, and is probably the most purely enjoyable entry in Kaufman's suboeuvre of literary excursions. Read full review
80
SlateDavid Edelstein
What the film does have is coruscating anger, impish wit, and a breathtaking style. Read full review
80
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
Ridiculous enough to be hilarious, but this didn't prevent me from thoroughly enjoying Philip Kaufman's silly romp. Read full review
80
Mr. ShowbizKevin Maynard
A literate, dialogue-driven treat delivered by a cast that truly savors the script's wicked wit. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChroniclePeter Stack
Rush is amazing throughout this absorbing, provocative film. Read full review
75
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
The things you can look forward to, however, are the humor, intellectual musing, emotional tumult, superb acting and challenging adult questions. Read full review
70
Washington PostDesson Thomson
Rush is too sinfully good for the drama he's in. Read full review
70
NewsweekDavid Ansen
Ultimately, Quills descends into overwrought melodrama. But at its bright and bawdy best, it bubbles with subversive wit. Read full review
70
Film.comGemma Files
Quills -- like the Marquis himself--is a posey, pungent, ultra-theatrical yet weirdly seductive mess which wants to have its cake, eat it too and discuss the whole concept and context of its meal (constantly, contradictorily) while it does so. Read full review
70
VarietyTodd McCarthy
Lacks an edge of danger or excitement that might have brought the subject alive in more than a cerebral way. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Quills bleaches the danger -- and fascination -- out of De Sade, turning him into a kind of mad saint of ''Masterpiece Theatre'' porn. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
A stunningly impassioned and articulate study of a writer's life and the censorial demons that can strangle that voice. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerDesmond Ryan
It's a work that preaches to the choir, and the song has been more subtly sung in better movies. Read full review
60
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Censorship, madness, social rebellion and the power of art. Read full review
60
Dallas ObserverGregory Weinkauf
Quills is bound to titillate some, but for most it's likely to summon little more than a few Oscars and appreciative yawns. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
The acting is passionate, but the film would be more effective if it presented a more thoroughgoing lesson in the raging horrors that swept through European culture during the era of the French Revolution. Read full review
50
Baltimore SunChris Kaltenbach
One gets the feeling Kaufman was so intent on putting fury and fanaticism on-screen, he forgot about having it serve any greater purpose. Which makes Quills the film equivalent of one of de Sade's novels: artifice, without art. Read full review
30
TimeRichard Schickel
This is soft-gore porn, obvious in its strategies, witless in the play of its ideas, absurdist only in its pretense to seriousness. Read full review
25
New York PostJonathan Foreman
Resembles a period version of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" - played dead straight. Read full review
20
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
Soon becomes a sadistic experience in its own right. Experiencing this pretentious wallow -- overwritten, under-thought and overdone -- is a very sophisticated form of torture. Read full review
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