The Devils - *****

Directed by Ken Russell. Starring Vanessa Redgrave, Oliver Reed, Dudley Sutton, Max Adrian, Gemma Jones, Murray Melvin, Michael Gothard, Georgina Hale, Brian Murphy, Christopher Logue, Graham Armitage, John Woodvine. Drama, UK, 107 mins, cert 18.

Out now on DVD from BFI Video, RRP £19.99.

Now that it seems like every great film ever made is now on Blu Ray or on-demand in sparkling high definition, it is easy to forget that there are still some classics yet to make a bow on DVD even. Ken Russell’s 1971 film THE DEVILS has long been one of the great omissions. This is now corrected with the British Film Institutes lavish two disc DVD, presenting the film in the original BBFC X rated version, rather than the hideously truncated R rated American release. Many will be frustrated that this is firstly not a Blu Ray release, and secondly does not present the director’s cut of the film that has played at a few film festivals and at the BFI Southbank.

Well don’t complain to the BFI, I’m sure they would have loved to have released Russell’s complete version but unfortunately Warner Brothers would like to pretend they never made The Devils, and I cannot imagine the arm twisting and pleading that must have taken place to allow a DVD release of the BBFC rated cut over the bowdlerised US version. The studio has flat out refused to allow the director’s cut to see the light of day outside of film festivals, and a blu version of this would not be possible as it only exists as an SD Digibeta. In any case Warners whilst willing to allow the release of the X rated cut would only supply the BFI with SD materials thus no Blu Ray release was possible for any version.

How can a film from 1971 remain so controversial that its studio continues to respond “la la la, I’m not listening” any time it’s brought up? It’s often the case that the media, and even some horror fans will say that movies are more violent now than they have ever been. This is demonstrably untrue. One need only look at the year of The Devil’s release 1971, sometimes referred to in film censorship circles as “the year of blood”. 1971 saw the release not only of The Devils, but of Sam Peckinpah’s STRAW DOGS and Stanley Kubrick’s A CLOCKWORK ORANGE. Even more apparently mainstream crowd pleasing thrillers included the likes of Don Siegel’s DIRTY HARRY and William Friedkin’s THE FRENCH CONNECTION. Both films featuring borderline fascist and racist heroes and nihilistic endings. The horror releases of 1971 could not compete with the carnage happening in the mainstream, LUST FOR A VAMPIRE looks positively cozy next to this lot.

But it is The Devils that has taken the longest to be released in digital format. And that surely has much to do with the subject matter of Russell’s film. Based on actual historical events and taking inspiration from in a novel by BRAVE NEW WORLD author Aldous Huxley and a subsequent play based on this book, The Devils takes place in 17th Century France. The country is under the rule of Louis the XIII (Graham Armitage). The king is being pressured by the Catholic Cardinal Richelieu (Christopher Logue) to allow for the demolition of city fortifications across France. The stated reasoning for this is to prevent further Protestant uprisings following the Religious Wars. In fact the scheming Richelieu sees the political independence of France’s self governing cities, as an obstacle to his growing power. The King agrees to Richelieu’s proposal, but with an exception, the city of Loudon is not to be touched. The King had made an agreement with its governor and did not wish to be seen to renege on his word.

Upon the death (from plague) of the governor of Loudon power in the city falls to Urbain Grandier (Oliver Reed), a radical priest with a fondness for the ladies and unorthodox views on marriage. Grandier is smart, popular with the people, but also proud and vain. When Richlieu hears of the Governor’s death he sends his enforcer Baron Jean de Laubardemont (the great Dudley Sutton) to tear down the walls. However he is repelled by Grandier who rallies the city militia and uses signed agreement between Louis the XIII and the former governor to drive him out. Grandier knows that Laubardemont and his men will return as soon as Richelieu turns the King’s flighty mood against them and sets out for Paris to make his case.

Laubardemont uses the priests absence to look for leverage to disgrace him and force him to bend to their will. He doesn’t have to look far. Not only has Grandier fathered a child with the daughter of a furious local magistrate, he has secretly married a young woman orphaned by the plague (Gemma Jones), and has upset the head of the cities convent Sister Jeanne (Vanessa Redgrave) by refusing to become their spiritual leader. Grandier having no time for nuns instead sent his prissy second in command Father Mignon (Murray Melvin). Sister Jeanne is shown early in the film to be sexually obsessed with Grandier, as is most of the convent frankly. When she hears of his secret marriage it drives her into hysteria and she falsely confesses to Mignon that Grandier has been involved in demonic rites at the convent. This what Laubardemont is looking for, bringing in witch hunter Father Barre (Micheal Gothard who looks like a rock star) to exorcise the nuns.

It’s a detailed synopsis, necessary because The Devils is a film that is both narratively and thematically complex. Russell wrote the film’s often quite brilliant screenplay, and he is dealing with weighty themes of faith, politics, sexuality, and the necessity of the separation of church and state. Now if that sounds dry, the director’s approach and style is anything but. The filmmaking is bombastic. Russell on top form could be a brilliant director, but no one has ever accused him of subtlety. Here he utilises a scores of filmmaking tricks, repetitive crash zooms, dream sequences, a shrieking atonal score, all to create a derangement of the senses building to a shocking crescendo of sexual abandonment and torture in the final act.

Russell’s is greatly aided by the stunning production design of filmmaker and artist Derek Jarman. The central cathedral and square of Loudon are a triumph of angular and spare design. The sexual hysteria of the purging of the nuns by the clearly insane Father Barre is heightened by the clinical white tile walls and floors of the convent. The costumes by Russell’s first wife Shirley Russell are sumptuous. The opening of the film, where Armitage’s super-camp King wears a shell bikini to play Venus to an audience of transexual nobles and a bored Richlieu, strikingly shows off her skills.

At the heart of the film are terrific performances. Redgrave is quite fearless as the physically deformed, sexually hysterical nun who accuses Grandier of devilry and is subjected to horrendous treatment at the hands of the exorcists (including a boiling water douche, and having her stomach pumped and the contents examined for evidence of satanic dining habits). The actress plays her character like the sadistic head girl of a boarding school. Giggling at every mention of naughty things, and then forced by guilt to whip herself in private. Towering above all is Oliver Reed. Reed is an actor whose brilliance has been overshadowed by appearing in too many bad films and by his hell raising reputation. A great pity as his performance in The Devils is not only arguably the best of his career, but is one of the great leading male performances in British film. Reed is a magnetic and physical presence. He is grandstanding, vain (he may spend more time grooming than Richard Gere does in AMERICAN GIGALO), and ultimately broken. He has to endure torture and physical indignity. But always he is resolute in his personal faith telling his accusers he “could never be the Devil’s boy.” It is a performance for the ages.

Like many films accused of blasphemy (MONTY PYTHON’S LIFE OF BRIAN and THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST spring to mind), The Devils isn’t blasphemous at all. In fact at its most powerful this is a film that shows how a man, even a flawed man like Grandier, is willing to endure the most shocking and hideous physical torment rather than renounce his faith. The Devils is certainly a film that is highly critical of organised religion, but it is not a film critical of faith. Extreme yes, but blasphemous it is not.

Extras (unseen):
Mark Kermode introduction
Audio commentary with Ken Russell, Mark Kermode, Michael Bradsell and Paul Joyce
Trailers
Short film Amelia and the Angel (Ken Russell, 1958, 26 mins)
Hell on Earth (Paul Joyce, 2002, 48 mins): documentary on the film's production and history
Director of the Devils (1971, 22 min): documentary featuring Ken Russell interviews and unique footage of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies recording his score
On-set footage with Michael Bradsell commentary (2012, 8 mins)
The release includes a fully illustrated booklet featuring new essays by Mark Kermode, Craig Lapper (BBFC) and editor Michael Bradsell, with original production materials and on-set photographs.

Sturat Barr

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