The Devils

1971

Ken Russel

The Devils is a 1971 British historical drama and horror film directed by Ken Russell and starring Oliver Reed and Vanessa Redgrave. It is based partially on the 1952 book The Devils of Loudun by Aldous Huxley, and partially on the 1960 play The Devils by John Whiting, also based on Huxley's book. The film is a dramatised historical account of the rise and fall of Urbain Grandier, a 17th-century Roman Catholic priest executed for witchcraft following the supposed possessions in Loudun, France. Reed plays Grandier in the film and Vanessa Redgrave plays a sexually-repressed nun who finds herself inadvertently responsible for the accusations.

The film faced harsh reaction from national film rating systems due to its disturbingly violent, sexual, and religious content, and originally received an X rating in both Britain and the United States. It was banned in several countries, and eventually heavily edited for release in others. The film has never received a release in its original, uncut form in various countries, and is largely unavailable in the home video market.

Since the time of its release, the film has caused enormous controversy. In the UK it was banned by 17 local authorities, and everywhere attracted many scathing reviews. Judith Crist called it a "grand fiesta for sadists and perverts",  while Derek Malcolm called it "a very bad film indeed." However, it won the award for Best Director-Foreign Film in the Venice Film Festival, despite being banned in the country

This was a highly controversial film with a rough history of censorship issues; its commentary on religious institutions such as the Catholic Church and organized religion in general stirred up controversy from censorship and ratings boards around the world. This, combined with its graphic depictions of violence, accentuated the film's uncompromising subject matter.

In order to earn a British "X" certificate (suitable for those aged 18 and over), Russell made minor cuts to the more explicit nudity (mainly in the cathedral and convent sequences), details from the first exorcism (mainly that which indicated an anal insertion) and removed some violent detail (notably the crushing of Grandier's legs and latter stages of burning at the stake). However, the biggest cuts were made by the studio itself, prior to submission to the BBFC, removing two scenes in their entirety, notably a two-and-a-half-minute sequence of crazed naked nuns sexually assaulting a statue of Christ and about half of a latter scene with Sister Jeanne masturbating with the charred femur of Grandier at the end of the film. However, even in its released form, the film was considerably stronger in detail than most films released prior to that point.

Its fate in the US was even more stringent, with a further set of cuts made to even more of the nudity with some key scenes (including Sister Jeanne's crazed visions, exorcism and the climactic burning) shorn of the more explicit detail. The film was released in 'X' form (no one under 18 years of age admitted) during its initial US theatrical release, but later resubmitted and recut to the MPAA and garnered an R-rating after another two minutes were removed (further removals of nudity and violent detail plus much of the second vision of Sister Jeanne).

Widescreen Edition Restored Uncut