DEVILS - special show

The Devils, directed by Ken Russell, United Kingdom, 1971, 111 minutes

The film tells the story of Father Grandier, who is a Catholic splinter and the object of erotic obsessions of Jeanne, the sister of the superior of the Ursuline Order. When Grandier unceremoniously marries his mistress Madeline, it causes a scandal, which becomes an excuse to initiate actions against him. Devils are about politics, and what happens around the devils, and how many desires are satisfied in the process, is already in another dimension — a very tragic, human dimension, where man always turns out to be an insatiable beast in the end. However, it is politics, interest, international contacts, arrangements and decisions that are most important. The main characters are Father Grandier (Oliver Reed), who holds absolute power in the small French town of Loudun, and Sister Jeanne (Vanessa Redgrave), a nun from the Ursuline monastery. Loudun is a special place because Catholics and Huguenots walk along one street. Purges never took place there, because the city was once under the special care of Louis XIII in full appreciation of the loyalty of the inhabitants. Protection is one thing, but Cardinal Richelieu's absmac (Christopher Logue) is a priority (for Richelieu).