After being heavily censored in 1971 for being too blasphemous Ken Russell’s The Devils is officially released in its full glory in an uncensored restoration 55 years after the heavily edited original release.
Based on a true story about a priest accused of corrupting a convent of nuns, The Devils created so much controversy for its portrayal of Christianity which would include graphic images of sex and torture. There was a scene so “blasphemous” that led to the film being heavily censored, one of those scenes being an orgy in the church.
Due to how heavily censored the film was it caused a lot of the story to be lost creating this intangible storyline that had many empty gaps which were not allowed to be filled. There have been many released cuts of The Devils over the years many ended up folding under the pressure of conservative societies. However after 55 years the uncensored restoration of The Devils is being able to be seen in its full glory and it is a masterpiece.
The film heavily focuses on sister Jeanne des Agnes (played by Vanessa Redgrave) and her dealing with the feelings of lust she feels towards Father Urbain Grandier (played by Oliver Reed). These feeling manifest into her having visions of Grandier depicted as Jesus and her committing sexual acts on him. Both times these visions happen she repents harshly on herself with the first one ending up manifesting on the way she looks and her “hump” while the other is while she is praying and she ends up digging her rosary into her hand causing a crucified inspired wound.
This leads the people into believing she has been possessed by a devil caused by Father Grandier, even though the two have never directly met other than sister Agnes’s fantasies and when she see’s him walk past the convent during the funeral procession. This belief of her being possessed causes her to go through a public exorcism which is of the toughest watches of the year. The scene forces you to sit and watch, while it doesn’t exactly show you the things that are happening you can hear the screams of sister Agnes which are haunting, we see the other nuns of the convent try and stop the exorcism which makes the scene even more haunting. I can not talk about this scene without mentioning how extraordinary Vanessa Redgrave is in not just this one scene but the whole entire film. She creates a haunting performance that has her cries and pleas sitting with you long after the credits have rolled.
These events end up leading to the orgy which was cut from the original release the scene did include something extremely blasphemous but at the end of the day it was allowing of these women to not be under the control of religion for just a moment. However they were not free rather were still exploited for the entertainment of the rich and the men of the town. We are made to feel bad for these women and watch as they loose their autonomy for the entertainment, hence the fact the exorcism was public, it was never meant to be for the protection of women but rather the entertainment people could get out of them because nothing is more entertaining then to watch a woman suffer. Throughout the film we see how these women are never allowed to fully be themselves in society as mentioned in the film many of these women join the convent because it was their way to survive.
The film not only shows how the church could exploit people but also how the church was also controlled by the higher powers of the government and we can see this due to the incredible production design done by Derek Jarman (who is best known for his film Blue 1993). We see the that in the town of Loudun the colours are all very black and white, never really seeing any other colour other than these these two to some varying degree. However outside the city we are shown vibrant colours and as the film goes on they start to mix, during the scene where Father Grandier is being sentenced the colours are all monotone other than the light that shines through creating a rainbow reflection on the judges to help prove that the church was controlled by the higher powers. These higher powers we see exploiting the women of the convent are shown as anything but Christian and do things that are blasphemous while Father Grandier who is being trialed for corrupting these women is seen as unchristian like and is in works with the devil. This is the furthest thing from the truth as we see him during the orgy covering one of the nuns with his jacket and yelling at the people that they are corrupting the women.
Oliver Reed gives a captivating performance as Father Grandier where the audience doesn’t know whether to root for him at the start as he is portrayed as rather manipulative in many ways but is constantly been shown that he stands for his faith and how dedicated he is to it. We end up feeling so much sympathy for him towards the end of the film as he still never gives the power what they want to hear so it wouldn’t damage the church.
Overall Ken Russell’s The Devils is an incredible and timeless film that still speaks to audiences now during a time of mass panic and a feeling of impending doom. During a time where everyone is so hyper connected The film feels fresh in a place that can feel recognizable to audiences.
The Devils is available in select Uk cinemas on the 30th of October.
