One might argue that there’s something symbolic in the fact that the two big Hollywood studio titles screening this year at Cannes can’t be found in the Official Competition but are in the repertory Classics section. The first being The Fast and the Furious, which rode into town on Thursday night with Universal for an anniversary screening in the Grand Lumière. The second was a more unique proposition, courtesy of Warner Bros.’s new boutique label Clockwork, which had its first official outing this evening with a new 4K director’s edition of Ken Russell’s infamous 1971 feature The Devils.
Starring Vanessa Redgrave and Oliver Reed, the film tells the story of Urbain Grandier, a 17th-century Catholic priest who was burned at the stake over accusations of witchcraft. While the film was inspired by true events and pulled from previous takes on the story, including John Whiting’s 1960 stage play, Russell’s version is distinct and was condemned at the time by critics who believed it to be highly blasphemous.
The film was publicly criticized by the Vatican, which called for its debut screenings at the Venice Film Festival in 1971 to be cancelled. Selected press on the Lido were screened the film, but the planned public viewing was canceled to avoid protests. Russell went on to win Best Director at Venice, but The Devils was later banned in Italy and several other territories. The film was released with an X rating in the UK and the U.S. after significant edits.
Russell described the ordeal in 2002 as “heartbreaking” during an interview with his biographer, Mark Kermode, and said the deleted material not only contained some of his “finest work” but also encapsulated the “thematic heart of the film.”
Russell restored an uncut version of The Devils in 2004, and it was screened at the National Film Theatre in London, but never received a public release. Over the years, the censored version of the film has screened at various film festivals across the world. The British Film Institute, which has championed The Devils for decades, released a DVD copy of the edited edition in 2011. Warner Bros., however, refused to release the uncut version until earlier this year, when the Cannes premiere was announced.
The Devils. Courtesy of Warner Bros. Clockwork.
This evening’s screening was introduced by Russell’s widow, Elisabeth, and Kermode, who praised Warner Bros. Clockwork for their decision to release Russell’s full version of the film and their work on the restoration. The new 4K print was assembled from the original camera negative, and the picture is astonishing. See some of the stills from the picture above.
Among the festivalgoers in the room this evening was honorary Palme d’Or winner Peter Jackson. Cannes head Thierry Frémaux told the audience that Jackson was one of many high-profile filmmakers who reached out to him to land tickets for the premiere screening, which was sold out.
“For them, Ken Russell and this movie, in particular, has a special importance in their lives,” Frémaux said.
But there were no loud gasps or terrified screams during the screening. For all that has been written about The Devils, 55 years later, its most infamous sequences, like the much-talked-about “rape of Christ” where naked nuns assault a statue of Jesus Christ, hardly shock the system. But there were laughs. The film is an intensely affecting satire of power and state corruption — a topic that is perhaps more relevant today than it was in 1971.
Ken Russell’s The Devils hits cinemas on October 16 via Warner Bros. Clockwork.
Cannes runs until May 23.
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