Overview
A gripping tale of power, faith, and betrayal unfolds in a 17th-century French town.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Brisk
- Intensity
- Extreme
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Graphic
- baroque
- grotesque
- feverish
- arthouse horror night
- historical cinema marathon
What critics said
Critics broadly agreed that the film's audacious baroque imagery and competent central performances were overwhelmed by sensationalism, melodrama, and grotesque excess.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Ken Russell stages seventeenth-century France with extravagant sets, distorted imagery, and deliberately operatic crowd scenes.
Richelieu's faction frames Father Grandier as a warlock and recruits a witch-hunter to assemble evidence against him.
The plot connects the cardinal's political ambitions, the possessed nunnery, and the trial into a sustained attack on clerical authority.
Sister Jeanne's sexual obsession with Grandier is intertwined with the nunnery's alleged demonic possession and public exorcism.
Films like The Devils, and why
Aguirre, the Wrath of God
baroque historical spectacle, religious persecution, and grotesque anti-authoritarian satire
The Name of the Rose
provocative religious drama, sexual repression, and institutional cruelty
The Wicker Man
surreal satanic imagery, political corruption, and transgressive horror
The Passion of Joan of Arc
stylized historical violence, anti-clerical critique, and feverish theatricality
Movie Details
- Director
- Ken Russell
- Release Date
- 1971-07-16
- Runtime
- 112 min
- Rating
- 7.5 / 10 (458)
Cast
- Vanessa Redgrave
- Oliver Reed
- Dudley Sutton
- Max Adrian
- Gemma Jones
- Murray Melvin
- Michael Gothard
- Georgina Hale
- Brian Murphy
- Christopher Logue
Common questions
- What is The Devils about?
- A condemned priest becomes the target of a spectacular conspiracy in which religious hysteria serves the ambitions of the state.
- What is The Devils like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of The Devils as brisk, its intensity as extreme and its storytelling as layered.
- Is The Devils violent?
- Yes. Ember rates the violence in The Devils as graphic.
- What did critics think of The Devils?
- Critics broadly agreed that the film's audacious baroque imagery and competent central performances were overwhelmed by sensationalism, melodrama, and grotesque excess.
- Which films are like The Devils?
- Films with a similar feel include Aguirre, the Wrath of God, The Name of the Rose, The Wicker Man, and The Passion of Joan of Arc.
- How long is The Devils?
- The Devils runs 112 minutes.
