Ken Russell's The Devils (18) | Monday Night Film Club

Ken Russell's The Devils (4K Restoration of the definitive version)
Ken Russell | UK | 1971 | 114m | 18

The film contains flashing images which might affect customers who are susceptible to photosensitive epilepsy.

Censored for over half a century, Ken Russell’s visionary masterpiece THE DEVILS will be back on the big screen in its definitive version, released in cinemas in the UK and Ireland by BFI Distribution in partnership with Warner Bros. Clockwork. 

Fully restored in 4K and cut to Ken Russell’s specific direction, KEN RUSSELL’S THE DEVILS is the first publicly released version of the film as intended by the filmmaker. 

An enduring masterpiece of cinema starring Vanessa Redgrave and Oliver Reed, KEN RUSSELL’S THE DEVILS is a prescient epic of obsession and corruption – and a defining work of art from seminal filmmaker Ken Russell. Inspired by the true story of 17th-century priest Urbain Grandier, accused of bewitching a convent of nuns, the film lays bare the collusion of church and state through a searing vision of religious persecution, collective hysteria and institutional corruption. In addition to powerhouse performances from Reed and Redgrave, KEN RUSSELL’S THE DEVILS showcases the stunning work of artists at the peak of their craft: Academy Award®-winning cinematographer David Watkin (Out of Africa, Chariots of Fire); editor Michael Bradsell (Local Hero, Jabberwocky); visual artist Derek Jarman (Jubilee, Caravaggio), whose work as production designer marked his feature film debut, and costume designer Shirley Russell (Women in Love, Agatha, Yanks).

Produced by Warner Bros. in 1971, the film received Best Director awards from two of the most prestigious institutions in the world: the 33rd Venice International Film Festival and the U.S. National Board of Review. Its critical reception in the following decades has only become more impassioned, championed by artists and film historians including Guillermo del Toro and Mark Kermode.

Ken Russell was a pioneering Academy Award®-nominated British filmmaker, the disruptive visionary behind classics like Tommy, Women in Love, and Altered States. He directed one Academy Award®-winning performance: Glenda Jackson in Women in Love.

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