The Devils **** (1971, Vanessa Redgrave, Oliver Reed, Dudley Sutton, Max Adrian, Gemma Jones, Murray Melvin, Georgina Hale) – Classic Movie Review 3,032

Vanessa Redgrave stars in Ken Russell’s outrageous 1971 film The Devils as a sexually repressed hunchback nun so obsessed with a priest (Oliver Reed) that she accuses him of witchcraft and says he has possessed her. 

Writer-producer-director Ken Russell’s outrageous, over-sized British 1971 movie version of the tale of the supposed possession of 17th-century French nuns and an exorcist’s torture of a priest to prove that he’s a Satanist is both a horror film and a sustained attack on churchmen and politicians.

Vanessa Redgrave stars as Sister Jeanne des Anges, a sexually repressed hunchback nun who is so obsessed with a priest, Father Urbain Grandier (Oliver Reed), that she accuses him of witchcraft and says that he has possessed her.

The director himself fashions the overwrought but coherent script from John Whiting’s 1960 play The Devils, based in turn on English literary giant Aldous Huxley’s 1952 novelistic non-fiction book The Devils of Loudun.

The film’s excesses (especially the surreal images, the dream of Christ and burning climax) shocked and outraged some audiences and critics at the time – and probably still can. But now it seems one of Russell’s finest, most ambitious and controlled projects.

The performances from a prize selection of British Equity of the day are first-rate. Also among the cast are Dudley Sutton, Max Adrian, Gemma Jones, Murray Melvin, Michael Gothard, Graham Armitage as Louis XIII, Georgina Hale, Brian Murphy, Christopher Logue as Cardinal Richelieu, John Woodvine, Andrew Faulds, Kenneth Coley, Judith Paris, Catherine Willmer and Iza Teller.

Both David Watkin’s cinematography and the artwork are first-class too. Future director (and gay saint) Derek Jarman did the production designs for Russell, as he did again for Russell’s Savage Messiah in 1972.

It dramatises the historical story of the fall of Urbain Grandier, the 17th-century Roman Catholic priest accused of witchcraft after the possessions in Loudun, France, and the story of Sister Jeanne des Anges, the sexually repressed nun who incites the accusations against him.

Urbain Grandier (1590 – 18 August 1634) was burned at the stake aged 43 after being convicted of witchcraft after the so-called Loudun possessions, but it is generally believed that  Grandier was the victim of a politically motivated persecution led by Cardinal Richelieu.

Jeanne des Anges [Jeanne de Belcier] (2 February 1602 – 29 January 1665) became mother superior of the convent at a young age and lived till she was 62.

The Devils is directed by Ken Russell, runs 111 minutes or 117 minutes, is made by Russo Productions, is released by Warner Bros, is written by Ken Russell, based on John Whiting’s play, based on Aldous Huxley’s book The Devils of Loudun, is shot by David Watkin, is produced by Robert H Solo and Ken Russell, is scored by Peter Maxwell Davies, and is designed by Derek Jarman.

Warner Bros made significant cuts to the film before its submission to the BBFC, who gave the British cinema release cut running 111 minutes an ‘X’ certificate, but it was still banned in 17 local council areas across Britain, which helped start its reputation as one of the most controversial films of all time. Warner Bros kept the cut footage in their vaults but later blocked various efforts to allow the director’s cut of the film to be released on home media, as they considered the material distasteful.

The director’s cut (approximately 117 minutes), with all footage restored, was screened for the first time in London on 25 November 2002, but it was not made officially available on home media.

In May 2026, Warner Bros. announced that a 4K restoration of the director’s cut, created from the original camera negative, will be released through its new Warner Bros Clockwork label.

The restoration premiered in the Cannes Classics section of the 2026 Cannes Film Festival on 14 May 2026. Warner Bros plans a one-week theatrical release in North America beginning 16 October 2026, followed by a release in the UK and Ireland through BFI Distribution on 30 October.

Last word to Ken Russell: ‘The Devils is a harsh film – but it’s a harsh subject. I wish the people who were horrified and appalled by it would have read the book, because the bare facts are far more horrible than anything in the film.’

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 3,032

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