
Cardinal Richelieu and his power-hungry entourage seek to take control of 17th-century France, but need to destroy Father Grandier, the priest who runs the fortified town that prevents them from exerting total control. So they seek to destroy him by setting him up as a warlock in control of a devil-possessed nunnery, the Mother Superior of which is sexually obsessed with him. A mad witch-hunter is brought in to gather evidence against the priest, ready for the big trial.... (Full plot summary below)
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Cardinal Richelieu and his power-hungry entourage seek to take control of 17th-century France, but need to destroy Father Grandier, the priest who runs the fortified town that prevents them from exerting total control. So they seek to destroy him by setting him up as a warlock in control of a devil-possessed nunnery, the Mother Superior of which is sexually obsessed with him. A mad witch-hunter is brought in to gather evidence against the priest, ready for the big trial.
Leave your thoughts about The Devils.
| AV ClubKatie RifeRussell’s penchant for aesthetic excess is thoroughly indulged, as the director stages grotesque human tableaus straight out of Hieronymus Bosch over Derek Jarman’s intricately detailed sets. The result gives the story a sort of wanton, overripe feel, with such ostensibly austere environments as a cloistered convent about to explode with repressed sensuality. |
| IONCINEMA.comNicholas BellWeird, disarmingly funny, and stuffed to the gills with inspired visuals and intense framing from [director of photograph] David Watkin, The Devils is a masterpiece. |
| ReelTalk Movie ReviewsDonald J. LevitNever letting up its energy, 'The Devils' is eye-ride. |
| The GuardianPhilip FrenchThere is much to irritate in the film, but it's bold, individual and a landmark in British cinema, with outstanding performances. |
| IndieWireJude DryThe 1971 epic offers a stylish and scathing parable about the dangerous ways that the powerful can exploit religious zeal to stay that way. |
| TimeJay CocksIt is like a lunatic opera, an attempt to make a furious poem out of frenzy. Russell's flamboyant theatricality and his interest in the perverse have been too much imposed on his other films; but here, style and subject are perfectly matched. The film does not work as drama. But as a glimpse of hell it is superbly, frighteningly effective. |
| Chicago ReaderDave KehrThe funniest thing about this 1971 Ken Russell camp epic is probably the juxtaposition of its first-class production values (a good cast, great set design, marvelous photography) with Russell's no-class sexual fantasies—it's like a David Lean remake of Pink Flamingos. |
| Empire MagazineJake HamiltonWhatever the moral perspective, it keeps you gripped right to the end. |
| Reeling ReviewsLaura CliffordBruegel couldn't have captured the insanity better. |
| The New York TimesVincent CanbyIt's a see-through movie composed of a lot of clanking, silly, melodramatic effects that, like rib-tickling, exhaust you without providing particular pleasure, to say nothing of enlightenment. |