Finally we can see what all the fuss is about or can we? The Devils finally gets its first UK release on DVD, in a two-disc special, but it’s still incomplete. Ken Russell’s most extreme, angry, political film still has two sections missing in two crucial segments, but it is the best we’ve got so far. It was a film that caused outrage on release and was censored from two sides the BBFC and the studio which funded it, resulting in cuts, cuts and more cuts. Most but not all of these have been restored in this beautiful-looking restoration, but the jigsaw is still incomplete.
It’s certainly Russell’s most serious work, but still with his English seaside postcard obsession with breasts and shrieking blimey it’s a noisy film which still has the power to shock and disturb. Not bad for a film made in 1970.
Oliver Reed never better plays Father Grandier, a man with a decent soul but weak flesh, who is sent to the city of Loudun in 17th century France where the battle between protestants and Catholics is at its peak. There his handsome looks and masterful preaching sends the nuns, in particular Vanessa Redgrave’s Sister Jeanne, into a frenzy of erotic obsession she even fantasises about his crucified bleeding body.
The church decide to use this as proof of his demonic’ properties and try him, but to further complicate things he has fallen for a woman who is the very essence of purity, played by Gemma Jones. Their scenes together are proof that Russell can do understated and tender when he wants to it’s not all shrieking and blood-spurting.
When the film really lets rip though it becomes high-pitched and either thrilling or annoyingly daft, depending on your point of view. What is fascinating though is that the BBFC were in constant communication with Russell, who agreed to cut the fairly strong rape of Jesus’ scene in two. Warners however, the producers of the film, were far more shocked than even the BBFC, and an executive, presumably now long gone, said the film should never be released in its uncut form.
What is certain is that The Devils is still a tough watch, whatever your faith or point of view. The plague scenes at the beginning crucial to establish Grandier’s faith and beliefs are unremittingly grim and grisly, and there are sores, blood and violence at all turns. Russell knows how to direct actors though, and Redgrave and Reed have never been better, and the script has flashes of wit and humanity running right through it. A particularly memorable scene involves a huge queue of women at Grandier’s confessional desperate for some private time with the handsome priest. One says she has sinned, but can’t recall what it was she did. “If you have forgotten Grandier sighs, “maybe God has too.
The great thing about DVD is the filling in of the missing pieces of the jigsaw of film’s history, and this film is clearly a welcome addition to that, incomplete though the film is. It’s not a film for everyone, and Russell can be as infuriating as brilliant at times, but the release is welcome.
Overall verdict: Loud, obsessive but enthralling film about faith, doubt and evil, with all the cast at their best.
Special Features:
Intro from Mark Kermode
Audio commentary from Ken Russell, Kermode, editor Michael Bradsell and Paul Joyce.
Hell on Earth, 48-min doc about the production.
Ken Russell interviews and score
On-set footage
Q&A with Russell at the NFT
UK and US trailer
44-page booklet
Reviewer: Mike Martin