The Devils (film)

The Devils
Official 1971 poster promoting R-rated cut of the film as it was released in the United States
Directed by	Ken Russell
Produced by	Ken Russell Robert H. Solo
Written by	Ken Russell John Whiting (play)
Based on	The Devils of Loudun by Aldous Huxley
Starring	Oliver Reed Vanessa Redgrave
Music by	Peter Maxwell Davies
Cinematography	David Watkin
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	July 1971 (1971-07)
Running time	111 min. (original X-rated version) 103 min. (cut version)
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

The Devils is a 1971 British historical drama and horror film directed by Ken Russell and starring Oliver Reed and Vanessa Redgrave. It is based partially on the 1952 book The Devils of Loudun by Aldous Huxley, and partially on the 1960 play The Devils by John Whiting, also based on Huxley's book. The film is a dramatised historical account of the rise and fall of Urbain Grandier, a 17th-century Roman Catholic priest executed for witchcraft following the supposed possessions in Loudun, France. Reed plays Grandier in the film and Vanessa Redgrave plays a sexually-repressed nun who finds herself inadvertently responsible for the accusations.

The film faced harsh reaction from national film rating systems due to its disturbingly violent, sexual, and religious content, and originally received an X rating in both Britain and the United States. It was banned in several countries, and eventually heavily edited for release in others. The film has never received a release in its original, uncut form in various countries, and is largely unavailable in the home video market.

Plot

Note: This plot is for the non-censored version of the film. Some scenes described below are omitted from other versions.

In 17th Century France, Cardinal Richelieu (Christopher Logue) is influencing Louis XIII (Graham Armitage) in an attempt to gain further power. He convinces Louis that the fortifications of cities throughout France should be demolished to prevent Protestants from uprising. Louis agrees, but forbids Richelieu from carrying out demolitions in the town of Loudun, having made a promise to its governor not to damage the town.

Meanwhile, in Loudun, the Governor has died, leaving control of the city to Urbain Grandier (Oliver Reed), a dissolute and proud but popular and well-regarded priest. He is having an affair with a relative of Father Canon Mignon (Murray Melvin), another priest in the town, unaware that the deformed, neurotic Sister Jeanne (Vanessa Redgrave), head of the local convent, is sexually obsessed with him. She asks for Grandier to become the convent's new confessor. Grandier secretly marries another woman, Madeline De Brou (Gemma Jones), but news of this reaches Sister Jeanne, driving her to insanity (this includes an attack where Sister Jeanne viciously attacks Madeleine when the latter brings back a book that the former had lent her, and Sister Jeanne accuses Madeleine of being a "fornicator" and "sacrilegious bitch", among other things).

Baron Jean de Laubardemont (Dudley Sutton) arrives with orders to demolish the city, overriding Grandier's orders to stop. Grandier summons the town's soldiers and forces Laubardemont to back down pending the arrival of an order for the demolition from King Louis. Grandier departs Loudun to visit the King. In the meantime, Sister Jeanne is informed by Father Mignon that he is to be her new confessor. She informs him of Grandier's marriage and affairs, and also inadvertently accuses Grandier of witchcraft and of possessing her. Mignon relays this information to Laubardemont. In the process, the information is boiled down to just the claim that Grandier has bewitched the convent and has had commerce with the Devil. With Grandier away from Loudon, Laubardemont and Mignon decide to find evidence against him.

Laubardemont summons the lunatic inquisitor Father Pierre Barre (Michael Gothard), a "professional witch-hunter", whose interrogations actually involve depraved acts of "exorcism", including the forced administration of enemas to his victims. Sister Jeanne claims that Grandier has bewitched her, and the other nuns do the same. A public exorcism erupts in the town, in which nuns remove their clothes and enter a state of religious frenzy. Duke Henri de Condé (actually king Louis in disguise) arrives, claiming to be carrying a holy relic which can remove the "devils" possessing the nuns. Father Barre "exorcises" the nuns with it. They appear as though they have been cured – until Condé/Louis reveals the case allegedly containing the relic to be empty. Despite this proof that the possessions and the exorcisms are a sham, both continue unabated, eventually descending into a massed orgy in which the nuns sexually assault and desecrate a statue of Christ.

In the midst of the chaos, Grandier and his wife return and are immediately arrested. After being given a ridiculous show trial, Grandier is shaven and tortured — although at his execution he eventually manages to convince Mignon that he is innocent. The judges, clearly under orders from Laubardemont, sentence Grandier to death by burning at the stake. Laubardemont has also obtained permission to destroy the city's fortifications. Despite pressure on Grandier to confess to the trumped-up charges, he refuses. He is then taken to be burnt at the stake. His executioner promises to strangle him rather than let him suffer the agonising death by fire that he would otherwise experience. However, the overzealous Barre starts the fire himself, and Mignon, now visibly panic-stricken about the possibility of Grandier's innocence, pulls the noose tight before it can be used to strangle the priest. As Grandier burns, Laubardemont gives the order for explosive charges to be set off and the city walls are blown up, causing the people to flee.

After the execution, Barre leaves Loudun to continue his witch-hunting activities elsewhere in the southwest of France. Laubardemont informs Sister Jeanne that Mignon has been put away in an asylum for claiming that Grandier was innocent (the explanation given is that he is demented), and that "with no signed confession to prove otherwise, everyone has the same opinion". He gives her one of Grandier's charred bones and leaves. Sister Jeanne, now completely broken, masturbates pathetically with the charred femur. Grandier's wife, having been released is seen walking away from the ruined city as the film ends.

Cast

Video artwork for the Warner Bros. VHS issued in 1995, the most recent official release of the film in the United States.

• Oliver Reed as Urbain Grandier
• Vanessa Redgrave as Sister Jeanne
• Dudley Sutton as Baron de Laubardemont
• Max Adrian as Ibert
• Gemma Jones as Madeleine
• Murray Melvin as Mignon
• Judith Paris as Sister Judith
• Catherine Willmer as Sister Catherine
• John Woodvine as Trincant
• Christopher Logue as Cardinal Richelieu
• Kenneth Colley as Legrand
• Graham Armitage as Louis XIII
• Brian Murphy as Adam
• Georgina Hale as Philippe
• Andrew Faulds as Rangier
• Michael Gothard as Father Barre

Reaction

Since the time of its release, the film has caused enormous controversy. In the UK it was banned by 17 local authorities, and everywhere attracted many scathing reviews. Judith Crist called it a "grand fiesta for sadists and perverts",^{[citation needed]} while Derek Malcolm called it "a very bad film indeed."^{[citation needed]} However, it won the award for Best Director-Foreign Film in the Venice Film Festival, despite being banned in the country. The United States National Board of Review awarded Ken Russell best director for The Devils and his next film, The Boy Friend. In 2002, when 100 film makers and critics were asked to cite what they considered to be the ten most important films ever made, The Devils featured in the lists submitted by critic Mark Kermode and director Alex Cox.

Censorship

This was a highly controversial film with a rough history of censorship issues; its commentary on religious institutions such as the Catholic Church and organized religion in general stirred up controversy from censorship and ratings boards around the world. This, combined with its graphic depictions of violence, accentuated the film's uncompromising subject matter.

Infamous hallucination sequence featuring Vanessa Redgrave sensually kissing Oliver Reed, who appears as Jesus after being taken down from the cross.

The film's combination of religious themes and imagery combined with violent and sexual content was a test for the British Board of Film Censors that at the time was being lobbied by socially conservative pressure groups such as the Festival of Light.

In order to earn a British "X" certificate (over 18s only), Russell made minor cuts to the more explicit nudity (mainly in the cathedral and convent sequences), details from the first exorcism (mainly that which indicated an anal insertion) and removed some violent detail (notably the crushing of Grandier's legs and latter stages of burning at the stake). However, the biggest cuts were made by the studio itself, prior to submission to the BBFC, removing two scenes in their entirety, notably a two-and-a-half-minute sequence of crazed naked nuns sexually assaulting a statue of Christ and about half of a latter scene with Sister Jeanne masturbating with the charred tibia of Grandier at the end of the film. However, even in its released form, the film was considerably stronger in detail than most films released prior to that point.

Its fate in the US was even more stringent, with a further set of cuts made to even more of the nudity with some key scenes (including Sister Jeanne's crazed visions, exorcism and the climactic burning) shorn of the more explicit detail. The film was released in 'X' form (over 21s) during its initial US theatrical release, but later resubmitted and recut to the MPAA and garnered an R-rating after another two minutes were removed (further removals of nudity and violent detail plus much of the second vision of Sister Jeanne).

Modern reissues

All of this material was presumed lost or destroyed until critic Mark Kermode found the complete "Rape of Christ" sequence and several other deleted scenes (including the fuller version of Sister Jeanne's masturbation scene as well as additional sequences of naked nuns lounging around the convent and a bawdy dance performed by travelling players mimicking the bizarre events whilst Grandier is being led to his death) in 2002. The artist Adam Chodzko made a video work in which he traced and interviewed many of the actresses who had played the nuns during the orgy scene. Although some material may have been lost forever, the NFT was able to show The Devils in the fullest possible state in 2004. This uncut director's version premiered at the Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Film in March 2006.

The British version remains the most complete one in circulation, although there are long promised plans to release the uncut director's version on mass-market DVD. On April 25, 2007, The Devils was shown for a second time in its fullest possible state to a group of students and staff at the University of Southampton, followed by a question and answer session with the director, moderated by Mark Kermode. It was the first significant event to take place during Russell's tenure as a visiting fellow at the University of Southampton in the English and film departments, April 2007 to March 2008.

On July 19, 2010, the film was screened for the Fantasia Film Festival in Montreal at the Hall theater, preceded by a Q & A session with director Ken Russell. It was screened again on July 28.

On the evening of August 20, 2010, the American Cinematheque in Los Angeles hosted Ken Russell at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica with screenings of The Devils (108-minute version) and "Altered States" with Charles Haid and Stuart Baird in attendance. There was a discussion between films with Ken Russell and actor Charles Haid, and moderated by Mick Garris. Russell exited the movie theater at some point after the start of "Altered States" and before its conclusion.^{[citation needed]}

On August 29, 2010, The Devils was again shown at the Bloor Street Cinema in Toronto, Ontario, preceded by a question and answer session with director Ken Russell.

An NTSC-format DVD edition of the R-rated version on the Angel Digital label appeared in 2005, with the so-called 'Rape of Christ' scene and other censored footage restored, and featuring a documentary by Mark Kermode about the film, as well as interviews with Russell, some of the surviving cast members, and a member of the BBFC who participated in the original censorship of the film. The consensus among those who have purchased this edition is that video quality of the DVD is only to the standard of a recording from television and may be a recording from the UK Channel 4 screening of 25 November 2002.

DVDActive.com announced on February 28, 2008 that The Devils would finally be released on DVD by Warner Home Video in the U.S. on May 20, 2008, in the UK theatrical (111 min) version, but without additional material. However, a day later, a DVDActive forum post asserted that the release had been dropped from Warner's schedule. Warner Bros released The Devils on DVD in Spain in the summer of 2010. However, it was the heavily cut US version. Despite this, the US R-rated version surfaced again on December 31, 2010 as a Euro Cult DVD, with the so-called 'Rape of Christ' scene and some censored footage restored, and with the accompaniment of the above mentioned interviews as well as commentary by the censors and the US trailer. This claimed-to-be 'uncut' NTSC Euro Cult DVD as available in the US during 2011 actually plays for under 109 minutes even though the packaging claims 111 minutes; it does not include all the missing footage. The quality is acceptable but definition is poor, as in a transfer from domestic videotape. The original widescreen ratio of the film at 2.45:1 Panavision, has also heretofore not been released on any format. Most DVD formats present a cropped 1.78:1 image.

In June 2010, Warner Bros. released The Devils in a 108-minute version for purchase and rental through the iTunes Store, but the title was removed without explanation after about three days and remained unavailable until reappearing in April 2011.

The British Film Institute have announced they will release the UK theatrical version (111 minutes) on DVD in March 2012. They were able to license the film from Warner Brothers, but are not permitted to use the 2004 restoration. The Institute is only permitted to release the film on DVD, not on Blu-ray.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• Loudun possessions
• Mother Joan of the Angels – A 1961 Polish film based on the Loudon incidents
• The Devils of Loudun (opera) by Krzysztof Penderecki

External links

• The Devils at the Internet Movie Database
• The Devils at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Devils at the British Film Institute's Screenonline
• Information on the Channel 4 UK screening in 2002