Give a jailed 18th-Century sex scribe a website and you can expect a strange trip. The official site (www.quillsmovie.com) for the Marquis de Sade film Quills (which stars Geoffrey Rush and Kate Winslet, in theaters Nov. 22) takes you on two journeys — one through Virtue and one through Vice.
LOVE FOOL
Though the time line's (1500 BC-1978 AD) title, ''A
History of Pleasure,'' leads you to believe you're in for a lesson
in earthly delights, you really get a history of sex laws and
contraception. Interesting? Sure. Stimulating? Not exactly.
SADE SONGS
''Probing Questions, Revealing Answers'' points out the
connection between the Marquis and '80s pop sham Milli Vanilli
(de Sade used vanilla to enhance sexual pleasure, calling it
''Vanille et Manille'').
WHAT THE SITE DOESN'T SAY
The French
fetishist has an eclectic modern fan base: Musicians like Judy
Collins, Enigma, and the Smashing Pumpkins have all referenced
him in their songs.
MAYBE LEO WASN'T ALL THAT
The ''Exposures'' section features a
QuickTime clip of a highly charged seduction scene between
Geoffrey Rush and Kate Winslet.
BUT BEAR THIS IN MIND
Obviously
unafraid of post-Titanic typecasting, Winslet kissed another man
twice her age, Harvey Keitel, in the 1999 drama Holy Smoke!.
VIRTUOUS MEASURES
The lushly crafted ''Virtue'' page concentrates
mainly on the film. The goodness can get cloying (white doves
and violin strains), and you mostly see bios of cast and crew.
To turn up the heat, stream the sensual trailer — you can almost
hear the bodices ripping.
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