Articles/Interviews

So here it is, Ken Russell's controversial The Devils, coming in on the crest of much advance publicity and speculation. Taken from the play "The Devils" by John Whiting and the book "The Devils Of Loudon" by Aldous Huxley, it is based on an actual incident during the religious and political upheavals current in 17th Century France, when a priest was unjustly accused of sorcery and burnt alive on the evidence of a group of deluded nuns.

Political power at the time rested with the infamous Cardinal Richelieu while Louis XIII entertained the licentious Court with plays and games (baiting Protestants is always a favourite sport).

Richelieu issues an edict to tear down the fortifications of the smaller towns, thus ensuring the power of the central government and ending the strength of the provincial towns.

When Richelieu's agent Laubardemont arrives in Loudon his destruction of the city is resisted by the priest, Father Grandier. Father Grandier is an intellectual, a sensualist whose nature is at odds with his religious conviction. He cannot resist the ladies of Loudon (not that they make more than a half-hearted attempt to resist him) and although he is an honest and just priest, when he falls in love with the beautiful Madeleine he unwisely goes through a secret marriage ceremony with her.

In the cloistered walls of the Ursuline Convent of Loudon the sinister Mother Superior, hunch-backed Sister Jeanne, fixes Father Grandier as the object of her sexual fantasies. He has never set eyes on her; she has only seen him through the tiny grille in her cell. In her fantasies he is Christ - walking on water towards her, coming down off the Cross. She chastises herself, but cannot get the handsome priest out of her mind. When whispers of Father Grandier's illicit marriage reach the convent, Sister Jeanne's fantasies (and those of other obsessed nuns) reach new depths of depravity. In a frenzy of jealousy and rage Sister Jeanne tells her confessor Father Mignon that she is possessed of the devil in the form of Father Grandier.

Grandier's enemies - Mignon, Laubardemont, two medieval doctors an others - see in her accusation the means of destroying the proud and powerful Grandier. The mouthings of an hysterical nun might amount to nothing, but Granider's enemies call in a professional exorcist, the odious Father Barre.

There follows a series of revolting public exorcisms during which the nuns are purged of the devil; the few dissenting voices in the congregation are soon quelled. It's a pesky old devil though, and the nuns are still prone to the occasional self-conscious orgy.

It is no great surprise to anyone when Grandier and Madeleine are arrested, Grandier must endure extreme torture as Laubardemont and Father Barre seek a full confession. But Grandier proves he is of sterner stuff: the vilest tortures devised by man only serve to strengthen his will. Protesting his innocence to the last, he is take to the market place and there publicly burnt alive.

Ken Russell's movie is very strong (the censor has had a snip at it) and contains performances of great merit. At times it seems to overreach itself; in moments of its greatest heights it then slips into sheer lunacy (witness the orgy sequence - I was never sure whether it was a total fantasy, part fantasy, or, horror of horrors, total truth!). The script (by Ken Russell) crashes horribly into the banal on occasions - quotes like "bye bye Blackbird" and "there's been some hanky-panky here" come immediately to mind.

Oliver Reed is magnificent as Father Grandier. I can't remember him being better: brooding, powerful with a quiet dignity at the sickening end. But the greatest surprise is Vanessa Redgrave as Sister Jeanne. When you get over the shock of the hump (constructed by Charles Parker), you marvel at the grotesque and sinister atmosphere which emanates from that serene, angelic face. And then there's an immaculate understated performance from the splendid Gemma Jones as Madeleine. Others who stand out are Graham Armitage as Louis XIII - as depraved and degenerate a king as ever sat on a throne; Murray Melvin as Father Mignon and Michael Gothard as Father Barre, looking for all the world like Mick Jagger in the wrong century.

A word of praise to Derek Jarman, design consultant and Bob Cartwright, supervising art director, for their unusual and ambitious sets and the dramatic costumes of the people of Loudon designed by the director's wife, Shirley Russell, which in sombre black and white contrast vividly with the garish costumes of the Court. I found, though, that the black and green lipstick against stark-white faces, although historically accurate, lent an unreal feeling to the proceedings.

The Devils is not an entertainment, but it is deeply affecting, at times brilliant, at times nauseating. It demands to be seen - if you can take it.

S.D.

	CAST
Sister Jeanne	......	Vanessa Redgrave
Father Grandier	......	Oliver Reed
Baron de Laubardemont	......	Dudley Sutton
Ibert	......	Max Adrian
Madeleine	......	Gemma Jones
Mignon	......	Murray Melvin
Father Barre	......	Michael Gothard
Philippe	......	Georgina Hale
Adam	......	Brian Murphy
Cardinal Richelieu	......	Christopher Logue
Louis XIII	......	Graham Armitage
(Warner Bros). In Technicolor
Cert. "X". Running time 111 minutes.
Directed by Ken Russell