Ken Russell’s 1971 film *The Devils*, recently restored and re-released in its full version after decades of censorship, revisits the story of Father Urbain Grandier, a 17th-century French priest accused of witchcraft during a period of political and religious turmoil. Adapted from Aldous Huxley’s *The Devils of Loudun* and John Whiting’s stage play *The Devils*, the film dramatizes the mass hysteria and abuse of authority surrounding the events in Loudun, France.
The narrative centers on Grandier, portrayed by Oliver Reed, who embodies the complex figure of a sensual and defiant cleric caught between local civic ambitions and the broader machinations of the Catholic Church. Grandier, as the leading citizen of Loudun, advocates for the town’s independence and fortifications, a stance that angers Cardinal Richelieu, represented by Christopher Logue, who fears the town becoming a refuge for Protestant Huguenots. The film situates this conflict amid tensions between the monarchy, represented by a detached and enigmatic Louis XIII (Graham Armitage), and the church’s assertive political agenda.
Vanessa Redgrave plays Sister Jeanne Des Anges, the abbess of the Ursuline convent, whose personal frustrations, including her physical disability, fuel her obsessive and hostile fixation on Grandier. Spurned in both love and influence, she fabricates accusations that trigger a state-orchestrated witch hunt fueled by hysteria and manipulation. While the film explores these falsehoods’ cynical exploitation, director Russell stops short of declaring the nuns’ possession a deliberate hoax, instead presenting a nuanced portrayal of the interplay between repression, sexuality, and power.
Supporting roles include Dudley Sutton as Baron de Laubardemont and Murray Melvin as Father Canon Jean Mignon, clerical figures who actively participate in the persecution. Mignon’s character evolves into a conflicted betrayer, illustrating themes of guilt and complicity within the religious hierarchy.
Russell’s film also critically examines the intersection of misogyny and mythology, particularly in how Sister Jeanne’s physical deformity has historically been weaponized to symbolize villainy. This aligns with broader cultural patterns that associate female sexuality with disorder and moral corruption.
Beyond its historical and religious themes, *The Devils* engages with ideas of fascism and power dynamics, comparable to contemporary European works exploring the relationship between state control, sexual repression, and political violence. The film suggests that the authorities manipulated sexual decadence as both an outlet for societal frustration and a pretext for authoritarian crackdowns, redirecting chaotic impulses into reverence for power.
Musically enriched by Peter Maxwell Davies’s dissonant score, the film’s opening sequence notably features a surreal court masque that sets the tone for its intense exploration of hysteria and confrontation. Overall, *The Devils* remains a provocative study of authority’s brutality and the complex intersections of faith, sexuality, and politics during one of France’s darkest episodes of witchcraft accusations.