A film banned in 1972 is finally reaching Irish cinemas. Does it still have the power to shock?

A PRIEST ACCUSED of witchcraft, nuns in the grip of religious and sexual hysteria, and scenes of torture: Ken Russell’s film The Devils was never likely to have an easy passage through Irish censorship way back when.

Released in 1971, it was banned in Ireland the following year, according to records checked by the Irish Film Classification Office (IFCO).

Now, 55 years after it was made, the film is currently getting its first Irish cinema release, opening on Friday.

For Kevin Coyne, cinema programmer at the Irish Film Institute, the film’s reputation can obscure the reason why people should watch it.

“I suppose you could say it’s excessive, but it’s not exploitative,” he told The Journal.

What is The Devils about?

According to Coyne: “It’s a film about power, and it’s a film about the abuse of power.”

Set in 17th-century France and inspired by real events, the film stars Oliver Reed as Urbain Grandier, a priest accused of bewitching a convent of nuns in a commune called Loudun.

Vanessa Redgrave plays Sister Jeanne, a nun whose desire for Grandier turns into accusations that he has bewitched her and the other nuns. Religious and political leaders seize on the claims to remove the priest, who stands in the way of their efforts to take control of the town.

What follows combines religious persecution, collective hysteria and institutional corruption with sexual, sacreligious imagery that helped make the film notorious.

Coyne argued that Russell’s craftsmanship deserves as much attention as the controversy surrounding his film.

“The costumes, the colours, the sound, everything is really beautifully made,” he said.

The film’s new 4K restoration draws on a cut reconstructed in 2004 under Russell’s supervision. BFI Distribution and Warner Bros Clockwork describe it as the first publicly released version presenting the filmmaker’s intended vision. 

For Coyne, the scenes that caused outrage serve the film’s argument about authority.

“Those in power can persuade the masses to do almost anything, as we see repeatedly around the world from this day and age,” Coyne said.

Why was it banned?

David Power, assistant classifier at IFCO, said The Devils was banned in 1972 by film censor Dermot Breen.

Breen had founded the Cork Film Festival, and his appointment prompted hopes of a “less restrictive” approach than previous conservative Irish classifiers, as someone with experience within the industry.

The Devils was only the second film he banned in Ireland, Power says. Warner Bros did not appeal.

Power checked the office’s logbook but found no written explanation of Breen’s reasons. However, he places the decision within a much broader pattern.

“Any film that could have been interpreted as being critical of the church was unlikely to survive the Irish censorship system unscathed,” Power said, adding that this applied up until the late ’80s.

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The Devils was far from alone. Michael Caine’s gangster film, Get Carter, was banned in 1971, while Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange was rejected in 1973.

The latter film’s Irish history is sometimes confused with Kubrick’s subsequent decision to withdraw it from circulation in Britain, which also affected distribution here. It had already been refused by the Irish censor, though it was eventually passed uncut in 1999.

Power said censorship did not always produce a public backlash. 

“There wasn’t a massive pushback to what the censors were doing,” Power said.

“And even for those that would have disagreed with the bans, in a pre-internet age, they just weren’t aware that they were happening. They weren’t being publicised.”

Will it still shock audiences?

Power recently watched The Devils again ahead of its release. Its age has not made it an easy watch.

“It still retains the power to shock, even from our modern perspective,” he said.

Alongside its sexual imagery, he points to particularly strong scenes of violence and torture. The film has received an 18 certificate for its Irish showings. 

Coyne also cautioned against assuming that changing attitudes have stripped the imagery of its force.

“If you are still religious, it’s still going to be shocking. It’s still going to offend people,” Coyne said.

He added that audiences may now be more willing to look beyond the immediate provocation and engage with its depiction of religious power.

“It is quite a serious film, despite what might be going on, on the surface,” he said.

For Power, the important change is who gets to make that decision.

“Today we don’t censor. We classify.”

He identifies the passing of Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ uncut in 1988, despite pressure to ban it, as an important moment in that transition.

“I don’t think there’s many adults in Ireland who want to be told what they can and can’t watch by a centralised censorship force,” Power said.

His advice for anyone curious about The Devils is straightforward.

“If you’re a fan of film and a fan of film history and a fan of iconic filmmakers, then yeah, I think people should definitely check it out,” he said.

“As long as you’re over 18.”

The film is currently showing in select cinemas nationwide.