Ken Russell's The Devils (1971) On 35mm

Limited engagement of Ken Russell's controversial masterpiece Feb. 20, 21 at 9:00 pm Feb. 26 at 6:30 pm Feb. 28 at 9:00 pm http://grandillusioncinema.org In seventeenth-century France, a promiscuous and divisive local priest, Urbain Grandier (Oliver Reed), uses his powers to protect the city of Loudun from destruction at the hands of the establishment. Soon, he stands accused of the demonic possession of Sister Jeanne (Vanessa Redgrave), whose erotic obsession with him fuels the hysterical fervour that sweeps through the convent. With its bold and brilliant direction by Ken Russell, magnificent performances by Oliver Reed and Vanessa Redgrave, exquisite Derek Jarman sets and sublimely dissonant score by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, THE DEVILS stands as a profound and sincere commentary on religious hysteria, political persecution and the corrupt marriage of church and state. "A British masterpiece... On the one hand it's beautiful...on an aesthetic level, it's an extraordinary creation. But it is also, in Ken's own words, his most if not his only political film. It has a point... It is clearly a film about the unholy marriage of church and state, and it is a point that is made with genuine burning anger. ...Ken Russell is a genius. THE DEVILS is his greatest work." - Mark Kermode "Ken Russell at his most devil-may-care, and beautifully visual, and phenomenally outrageous and controversial..." - Steve Wooley