Is government all knowing and all just? Does the media bear a responsibility in regulating what is seen or heard by its public? Are the words of a man or woman as dangerous as their actions? Is goodness or depravity simply a side effect of being true and fair to one’s own nature? Can we truly alter what is inborn, or are we slaves to our dispositions? Does psychiatry present a means to a cure or simply an attempt to delay the inevitable? Does materialism serve as merely a cushion to the pain that life will eventually inflict on all of us? Is death truly worse than life? How many issues can a film possibly address within two hours? If you’re Philip Kaufman (The Unbearable Likeness of Being, The Right Stuff) and playwright turned screenwriter Doug Wright, quite a few. And not only do they succeed in speaking to each of them, but they do so in an exceedingly expert and non-sensationalized manner.

From his rather well-appointed cell, the Marquis is afforded all the comforts of home as well as those quills and parchment his passion for the written word requires. While this type of treatment seems oddly devoid of anything resembling a straight jacket, it’s an approach that is nonetheless quite logical in the mind of the Abbey Coulmier. Philosophically and psychologically, the Abbey believes in allowing his patients to express the roots of their sickness so that it is eliminated from their mind. As an arsonist is allowed to paint the flames that would otherwise destroy or kill, so is the Marquis allowed to write as a means of "purging those pornographic toxins" from his mind. It is unfortunate for the Abbey these ghastly writings make their way to the ears of the Emperor Napoleon.

Looking to silence the Marquis, Napoleon chooses to "cure" the flamboyant troublemaker rather than kill him. Enter the renowned Doctor Antoine Royer-Collard whose methodology in converting the insane can be considered nothing less than "cleansing through torture," and quite opposite to those more progressive approaches practiced by the Abbey Coulmier.

It is here where one of the main conflicts of Quills takes root, and the lives of the Marquis, Abbey, Collard and an impressionable laundress become inexorably changed and proceed to spiral tragically downward.

Shot with very little color saturation, Quills has an elegant, funereal look that supports its desperate and ultimately grim tale. On DVD this look is perfectly preserved and does an exceptional job showing off deep blacks and rich pastels with very little in the way of artifacts to be seen. Audio was competent and clean with very good vocal intelligibility.

Features were OK and included separate documentaries on Doug Wright’s superb script, the production design, and costume design, as well as historical and pop facts respective to the actors and those characters they portray. The standout was an insightful and intellectual feature-length commentary with Doug Wright.