Chicago Tribune by Michael 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.

Washington Post by Stephen Hunter

Profane, sacrilegious, pornographic, sadistic and Sade-istic, titillating and the most honorable movie of the year.

Rolling Stone by Peter Travers

A savage comedy of sexual extremes; the barbed laughs draw blood.

Salon by Stephanie Zacharek

It's an unapologetic dazzler, which is why it's never overwhelmed by its themes.

USA Today by Mike Clark

Uniformly robust acting puts still more feathers in the caps of Rush, Winslet and Caine.

Chicago Sun-Times by Roger Ebert

Finds a tone that remains more entertaining than depressing, more absorbing than alarming.

Boston Globe by Jay Carr

A witty yet fiery and, in the best sense, provocative play of ideas about freedom of expression.

Miami Herald by René Rodríguez

This playful, immensely entertaining movie knows that art is in the eye of the beholder.

Film.com by Peter Brunette

The dialogue is sparkingly witty, and Phoenix and Winslet are excellent in what are, after all, meant to be fairly one-dimensional roles.

Village Voice by J. Hoberman

Kaufman's earnestly overblown celebration of the Marquis de Sade.

The New York Times by A.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.

San Francisco Chronicle by Peter Stack

Rush is amazing throughout this absorbing, provocative film.

Washington Post by Desson Thomson

Rush is too sinfully good for the drama he's in.

Entertainment Weekly by Owen Gleiberman

Quills bleaches the danger -- and fascination -- out of De Sade, turning him into a kind of mad saint of ''Masterpiece Theatre'' porn.

New York Post by Jonathan Foreman

Resembles a period version of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" - played dead straight.

Los Angeles Times by Kenneth 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.