Quills Movies

Portrays the Abbé de Coulmier, a man of faith caught between his compassion and the cruelty of the state.

Philip Kaufman, known for The Right Stuff and The Unbearable Lightness of Being . Key Themes quills movies

is the moral fulcrum. As the young, idealistic priest who runs the asylum, he believes in rehabilitation through kindness and the redemptive power of the word. He allows de Sade to write, to stage plays, and to have a modicum of freedom, believing that art can be a cathartic outlet for demons. Phoenix plays him with a trembling intensity, a man whose faith is genuine but whose flesh is weak. He is caught between his empathy for the Marquis and his horror at the effect the Marquis's novels are having on the outside world—inciting "immoral acts," corrupting seamstresses, and scandalizing Napoleon himself. Portrays the Abbé de Coulmier, a man of