Devil (MASTERS OF CINEMA — ANDRZEJ ŻUŁAWSKI)

27.10. MASTERS OF CINEMA — ANDRZEJ ŻUŁAWSKI Diabeł. Poland 1972/88. 119 min.

The action takes place in January 1793 during the entry of Prussian troops into Wielkopolska. A stranger leads a young nobleman Jacob out of the prison monastery with a nun. The would-be kingkiller, visibly stunned by the torture of Jacob, returns to his family with a nun, but the encounter with his parents, siblings, friend and fiancée only intensifies his possession. A stranger hands Jacob a razor and tells him to “cleanse.” Jacob decides to settle accounts with those closest to him who have plunged into betrayal and moral debauchery, while losing his sense of reality. The screenplayDevil, published in 1969 in the monthly magazine “Kino”, foreshadowed a classic horror film. The press published reports from the Devil's plan, and the director gave interviews about the film being made. However, the Devil was stopped by Peerelian censorship due to the cruelty and overly daring erotic scenes seen in the film by the dignitaries of the cinema of the time. According to Żuławski, the reason for stopping the film was to be the allegory of March 1968; the title devil was to be Mieczysław Moczar. After this event, Zhuławski had to leave the country and emigrate to France.

Wikipedia