The Devils (1971)

The uncut version of Ken Russell’s film- in part based on the 1952 non-fiction book The Devils of Loudon, and partial dramatised account of the fall of popular priest Urbain Grandier in the seventeenth century- still remains without a cinematic release over fifty years on. This version, Russell’s directors cut, is the most complete version easily accessible currently, and for the moment, certainly the definitive version. Oliver Reed is staggeringly good as Grandier, a priest who adapts a futuristic approach to faith, playing loose with celibacy and tradition but remaining a vital presence in the community as Cardinal Richelieu’s influence over Louis XIII grows. Richelieu convinces Louis that fortifications of cities across the country should be torn down to prevent Protestants rising up, but Louis refuses the destruction of Loudon after making a promise to the Governor, whose death leaves Grandier in charge of the town. The film focuses both on Grandier’s battle to keep Loudon intact as well as his own title; and the abbess of the local Ursuline convent Sister Jeanne Des Anges, who is sexually obsessed with Grandier. The Devils carries a visual succulence which opens with a sequence reminiscent of something out of Monty Python’s the Meaning of Life (1983). Despite this, after Louis XIII’s entry to the film, the tone changes dramatically to focus on the matters at hand at the time. Russell’s masterstroke is throwing everything at the film, and pretty much all of it works superbly. It’s easy to see the influence on this years’ Benedetta, Verhoeven’s excellent take on the 1986 non-fiction book Immodest Acts: The Life of a Lesbian Nun, not to mention the fact that William Friedkin’s The Exorcist was still two years away.

Unsurprisingly The Devils was widely banned on release, eventually achieving an X certificate after Russell had made minor cuts to certain sequences, namely some explicit nudity and parts of an exorcism that indicated an anal insertion. The film remains controversial in part today, and yet one cannot help but admire the boldness of Russell’s film making even if some may find it a difficult watch. There’s more than enough of a case to perhaps finally see the uncut version, but as of yet this is the best version you can get your hands on, and it’s certainly worth doing so. 8.2/10