20 BDSM Movies More Provocative Than Fifty Shades Of Grey

19. Quills

If any one writer and thinker can be said to epitomise the libertinism of the late eighteen and early nineteenth centuries, that writer is the Marquis de Sade. Sade's penchant for often violent eroticism landed him in hot waters with the authorities on more than one occasion. Quills, starring Geoffrey Rush and Kate Winslet, avoids presenting a blow by blow biopic of de Sade's life, instead opting to use his life as a launch pad for ideas about sexuality, pornography and censorship. While it isn't the most challenging film to have been made based around de Sade's writings (more on that later) it's nevertheless a solid movie with strong performances throughout, including Joaquin Phoenix and Michael Caine in supporting roles.