THE DEVILS
(The New York Film Festival (NYFF) runs September 25 through October 12 and HtN has tons of reviews coming your way like Matt Delman’s review of The Devils. The 4K restoration will also open in select theaters this Friday, October 16, for a one-week theatrical engagement. Seen it? Join the conversation with HtN on our Letterboxd Page.)
Clockwork, Warner Brothers new indie label that has so far survived the Skydance merger, will release this week a never-before-seen director’s cut of Ken Russell’s The Devils, from 1971. The film’s second coming is as stupefying as its initial release. In 1971 the question was, ‘Who paid for this to get made?!’ In 2026 it’s, ‘how is David Ellison letting this out of the vault?’ Despite the circumstances surrounding its distribution, audience members can rejoice at the opportunity to see such powerful forces on the big screen. Oliver Reed plays a womanizing priest named Urbain Grandier who is also the de-facto leader of his fortified French village. Vanessa Redgrave plays a nun, Sister Jeanne–plagued with a hunchback–who leads a strict convent of initially innocent sisters who are besotted with sexual urges.
A woman named Madeleine (Gemma Jones) interviews with Sister Jeanne and considers joining the nunnery, but decides instead to marry the enigmatic town priest Urbain Grandier, who has the roguish appeal of Aleister Crowley. The turning point in the film is when you realize that Grandier is not the bad guy, but in fact our hero. Nor is King Louis XIII (Graham Armitage) the villain, he seems more addicted to the pleasure cube than acts of aggression. Ironically the villain in The Devils is the Exorcist demon slayer himself, and the highest ranking members of the Catholic church. The prestige of Russell’s magic track comes inside a tiny gold box. What is revealed is ultimately gratifying, whether the nuns are in on a scheme to expose the Church’s lies and manipulation or simply taken by the spirit. Weaponizing their hysteria, they act out in ways that will be an affront to most of America, and one scene specifically really earns its NC-17 rating.
A stunning visual aspect is the camerawork by David Watkin (other films in his extensive filmography include Chariots of Fire and Moonstruck). Weaving around sets designed by production designer Derek Jarman–notably his first film–we are immersed in 1634 and the religious idolatry of the time. Grandier’s bachelor pad tops a spiraling tower. From the very first scene of King Louis dancing around on a stage, there is a theatrical element to Russell’s work. Realism is not the goal, despite the story being based on real events. Perhaps this ‘staged’ quality is in line thematically with the source material, John Whiting’s play which was itself adapted from Aldous Huxley’s novel, “The Devils of Loudun” (1952).
I was lucky enough to experience The Devils for the first time in glorious 35 millimeter at the New York Film Festival. Restored by Warner Bros from the original camera negative, most audiences will get to see it in 4K. It’s not a perfect film–at one point Grandier tosses a silly fake alligator at another man–but Russell takes the biggest of swings and some of them land. We should celebrate its imperfections, because it is a miracle that this film even exists, and made within the studio system nonetheless. Its reemergence in 2026 is heralded by a wave of enthusiasm that was absent in 1971. Perhaps the blatant corruption of leaders in our government, church and boardrooms is so pervasive that we seek out anti-establishment art as a form of rebellion. Or maybe The Devils just rips!
– Matthew Delman (@ItsTheRealDel)
