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This week saw the sad passing of Ken Russell, one of Britain’s greatest filmmakers, but one whose work is all too often seen as simply a ‘firebrand’ director courting controversy wherever he went. A fact that often hides the enormous value of his work, and nowhere is this more true than with his 1971 masterpiece The Devils. Thanks to its admittedly incendiary nature The Devils has yet to be released in its original director's cut forty years later; it’s a film of bold and brutal imagery, in which each frame contains a strange and disturbing quality as it puts forward its decidedly uncomfortable tale of repression, murder, corruption, despair and the unholy union of church and state.
From its opening scene of the King of France (Graham Armitage) engaging in a strange pageant to amuse his insipid courtiers and sinister figure of Cardinal Richelieu (Christopher Logue), we begin to notice the feeling deep uneasiness at corruption and grotesquery on one that remains ever present throughout the film as it looks straight ahead into the darkness. Richelieu and the King are minor characters, but they act as the perpetrators of the events that lead to madness and insanity in the town of Loudon as they conspire to destroy its independence through turning collective hysteria of a group of enclosed nuns led by Sister Jeanne (Vanessa Redgrave), into a witch-hunt that lead to the destruction of Grandier (Oliver Reed) and all opposition. It is a complicated story told with remarkable skill that simply would not work were it not for the performances of its leads. Oliver Reed was quite simply never better as a man who for all his manifold sins is the only voice of wisdom in a world going to hell. Whilst Vanessa Redgrave’s deranged Sister Jeanne is just extraordinary, delivering a unique tour de force that is simply astonishing to watch as she writhes around in desperate fits of insanity.
This is not to forget the film's incredible visual palette. Of course there is the the violence, alongside the sexual and religious imagery that have led to so much controversy over the years and has too often overshadowed the rest of the film. It is genuinely difficult to watch, though this is largely due to simply how well it is shot and acted, and it all serves a clear purpose adding to the work's themes and ideas, making the picture all the more powerful and on watching the film does not feel gratuitous or out of place. What people forget is that behind this there is so much more; Derek Jarman’s set design is simply astonishing, creating an alternate Loudon that seems as real as any actual town, and visually it’s simply stunning. Which when mixed together with a remarkable score leads you into a distinct world of its own. For despite being based on actual events this is a film that does not attempt to recreate the 17th century. Instead, it creates an alternate vision of it, deliberately and noticeably distinct in which it can tell its tale which adds to the picture's mesmerising power.
The Devils is a work of extraordinary power with themes and ideas as important today as ever, and one that still feels as shocking and fresh today as ever, especially if you find a way to watch the superior director's cut which Warner Brothers still refuse to release. Sure it is not an easy watch and it's obvious why it has courted controversy over the years, though at its heart it is a truly remarkable and unique piece that absorbs its audience into a murky and bizarre world, both strange and terrifying and never lets go.
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