Regie:
Ken RussellKamera:
David WatkinMusik:
Peter Maxwell DaviesBesetzung:
Vanessa Redgrave, Oliver Reed, Dudley Sutton, Max Adrian, Gemma Jones, Murray Melvin, Michael Gothard, Georgina Hale, Graham Armitage, Kenneth Colley (mehr)Inhalte(1)
Cardinal Richelieu and his power-hungry entourage seek to take control of pre-rennaisance France, but need to destroy Father Grandier - the priest who runs the fortified town that prevents them from exerting total control. So they seek to destroy him by setting him up as a warlock in control of a devil-possessed nunnery, the mother superior of which is sexually obsessed by him. A mad witch-hunter is brought in to gather evidence against the priest, ready for the big trial. (Verleiher-Text)
(mehr)Kritiken (2)
I haven't seen such a visually sophisticated film in a long time. And so bizarre. Ken Russell was original in every way, his films were a genre unto themselves, probably closest to the label gothic horror, mixed with visual ideas as if from the work of Alejandro Jodorowsky. In the first half, the action is on the sidelines, with an obscure panopticon of horny nuns, the Mother Superior with a hunchback who dreams of the penis of the head priest (brilliantly played by Oliver Reed), who sexually pleasures his flock from all walks of life in the fantastic backdrop of the fictional French town of Loudon (the film must have been terribly expensive). The rest of the film, when the holy inquisition starts working, is a truly dark spectacle (in the manner of Witchhammer) and the scene of the devil exorcising the naked nuns will haunt my mind for a long time. At times it was too bizarre, even for me. Such a bold artistic vision wouldn't be possible today, I don't know any film studio that would risk financing something like that.
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A historical drama (not unlike the Czech film Witchhammer, as others have said) with elements of horror and a distinctive style (at times it felt like Jodorowsky’s The Holy Mountain). It was a bit boring at first, but the moment the Holy Inquisition shows up, the fun is guaranteed. A truly miserable era.
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