Review of The Devils

The Devils is, admittedly like Ken Russell's style itself, is not for all tastes, it is one of those films that you will be transfixed by straightaway or be repulsed by it. With me, it was the former and while Russell's style was a quite unique one to begin with The Devils is most likely unlike anything you've seen before. It is an incredibly well-made film, the sets are simply spectacular and the photography is both beautiful and harrowing. Peter Maxwell Davies' music score is hypnotic and haunting, it has a genuine eeriness but doesn't overbear things. The story is a ceaselessly compelling one, a lot of it is incredibly shocking(with the most disturbing torture scenes on film) yet with the fascinating imagery and the different themes the film has it is overwhelming in how stunning it is. With Russell's direction, this is not restrained Russell(if you want restrained look to his biographies on Elgar and Delius) but hard-hitting and somewhat eccentric Russell, but there is much more focus and atmosphere than there was with Lisztomania, a fairly similar directing style but The Devils is so much more structured and cinematic and less music-video-like and tasteless(at times). Nonetheless he does a great job directing, it has his style all over it but he handles it in a gripping and intelligent way. Oliver Reed gives a career-best performance, while Vanessa Redgrave is deeply touching and somewhat grotesque in appearance(the character that is not her) and Gemma Jones is entrancing. Overall, The Devils is one of Russell's best and most fascinating films but it is very easy to see why it caused so much controversy at the time of release(it was very different for the time and the audience weren't prepared to be that shocked, the same treatment happened with Witchfinder General with Vincent Price as well). 10/10 Bethany Cox