The Marquis de Sade (1740 to 1814) was outrageous enough to have seriously upset both the nobility and the libertines in France through its Revolutionary days. That's an achievement.

There's little doubt that the Marquis was into sadistic group sexual activities, managing to scandalise and titillate both the commoners and nobility of his time. He was imprisoned for a total of nearly 30 years for these debacles. Parents of the young women he defiled were after his blood for decades. The term sadism comes from his name.

And he wasn't the retiring sort. He even got into a bit of strife in 1772 for probably mistakenly poisoning four prostitutes with arsenic during a whip flaying orgy which also included his valet. He thought he was giving the girls an aphrodisiac!

De Sade was also a florid writer on matters sexual and religious, an avid defamer of the notion of God, and we'd have to suspect part of his infamy was due to the fact that he just couldn't help stirring the pot. But if he wasn't such a competent pornographer I doubt we would be talking of him now.

And he certainly was a survivor. He escaped prison, the authorities and the death penalty repeatedly, which was all the more remarkable because he enjoyed some noble privilege during The French Revolution, when noble heads were bouncing all over the place.

Whether De Sade himself actually ever murdered anyone in the pursuit of his own pleasure, as he repeatedly states one should, hasn't been shown but it' s clear that there were elements of sadism and rape in his activities. What is sure is that he probably wrote the best pornography of his time.

And this indicates the bent of Quills. It's about an aging but vital man's fight for literary expression, the nasty side of the father of sadism isn't much on show.

De Sade is played by Geoffrey Rush, his pure at heart laundress by Kate Winslet. De Sade has been smuggling his writings out of the asylum in the laundry but eventually the authorities crack down by taking his quills and paper. He then resorts to using his clothes, his cell walls and his linen as his paper and various body fluids for ink.

The script includes enthusiastic sacrilege as a priest (Joaquin Phoenix) battles with his self doubt and a pointed jab at hypocrisy when De Sade stages a play in his prison which points fun at a stiff bureaucrat (Michael Caine) who's taken a very young girl to be his wife.

There's an amusing Chinese whispers scene where De Sade passes his writings by word through the mouths and insanely confused minds of fellow inmates. "Perhaps they'll improve it" muses De Sade.

Both Rush and Winslet give wonderful, exuberant performances that are a delight to watch, taking full advantage of a terrific script from Doug Wright who also wrote the stage play. Rush as De Sade is a revelation. De Sade strolling naked through his bare cell was unforgettable.

These sorts of parts are tailor made for actors such as Rush who's long stage apprenticeship lends authenticity to overblown types of characters. Winslet again shows that she's one of the precious few important actors on the screen today.

Michael Caine and Joaquin Phoenix pale a little as the straight men to Rush, and Quills is probably half an hour too long. The business with the bureaucrat's young wife should have been dumped.

But still Quills is an utterly engaging piece of film for the broad minded.

4 Rush Flys