The Devils (1971)

Yesterday I took in the Ken Russell film The Devils (1971) at the Walter Reade. It's part of RussellMania which goes on for a few more days still. We don't really have gonzo English language filmmakers like Russell any more, or if we do, they don't get any attention. Everything is so safe. Even the "daring" stuff. The Devils is one of his hardest films to find (not available on DVD and everytime it's going to be, it suddenly isn't.) I figured images would be hard to come by so in order to prevent me from doing something foolish and illegal with my cel phone, my friend Ed offered to draw me stills for posting purposes. You have to admit, he captures Vanessa Redgrave's EXACT likeness in character as a filthy minded hunchback nun.


Uncanny isn't it?

I had expected the film to be more camp and less serious, but it's actually quite a sober historical epic, a true story from the 17th century which kicks off with the political maneuvering of royals and cardinals in France, and then gets more regional, zeroing in on the fortified town of Loudun and the religious posturing of clergy and civilians alike. There's politics, personal power plays, organized religion as a petri dish of corruptions, both political and personal. Faux exorcisms, the plague, corrupt legal systems, and sexual misconduct beset the characters until it all comes crashing down including, literally, Loudun's white brick city walls (designed by Derek Jarman!) All that plus erotic and visual abandon because it's...

1. a Ken Russell film.
2. from the least prudish decade of English language cinema and
   
3. about a nun Sister Jeanne (a ballsy performance by Vanessa Redgrave) who desperately wants to get biblical with that lion of Loudun, Father Grandier (played by Russel muse Oliver Reed)

It's totally worth seeing if you get a chance. One of my friends went a few nights ago and sat two rows behind Vanessa Redgrave herself. (He reported that she cackled offscreen at her nusto cackling onscreen. How great is that?) Though it's less graphic than I'd been anticipating -- some of the scariest bits involving torture mercifully take place just offscreen -- it's hardly free of disturbing moments.

The original poster from 1971 "Not for everyone!" -- can you imagine a movie today proudly proclaiming its elitism?and intended DVD art for a release that didn't happen [photo src].

Though he's still working (supposedly there's a new version of Moll Flanders coming) the early seventies were arguably the peak Russell years. His 1970 release Women in Love won multiple Oscar nods (including a Best Actress trophy for Glenda Jackson) and other prizes and he followed that up in 1971 with not one but two films (The Devils, The Boyfriend) which went on to win him the National Board of Review for Best Director. Despite random scattered honors, success or infamy for later films like Tommy (1975), Crimes of Passion (1984) or The Lair of the White Worm (1988) he was only "awardable" in the 70s and even then he was never anything like an Oscar bait figure.

It's funny, really. He loves biographical epics as much as any AMPAS member ever has -- he made several -- but he loves them too perversely and too specifically; you can't mistake his films for someone else's.

The current RussellMania fest only covers his 60s & 70s work which is a shame because I was really hoping to watch Kathleen Turner don that platinum blonde China Blue wig and do unspeakable things that no A list actresses is ever supposed to do onscreen.

Have you ever seen a Ken Russell film? Do you think there's any director currently pushing the boundaries of "taste" that's also doing work worth celebrating nowadays?
*

Beauty Break: Vanessa Redgrave, Bewitching in Any Season

"If ever I would leave you,
How could it be in springtime?
Knowing how in Spring I'm bewitched by you so?
Oh, no, not in springtime!


Summer...


Winter...


Or Fall!


No, never could I leave you at all!"

Lynn Redgrave (1943-2010)

Very sad news today. The Redgrave acting dynasty has lost another famous and beloved member. Lynn Redgrave was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2002 (shortly after this photo to the left was taken). She succumbed yesterday at the age of 67 after a valiant seven year battle. The New York Times featured an amazing photojournal of her treatment process awhile back, photographed intimately by her daughter Annabel Clark in 2003 which you can still see here. Beautiful work.

Our hearts go out to Redgrave family.

Vanessa Redgrave, the eldest sister of the famous family is still with us (thank God) and still churning out amazing work...But Vanessa, one of the great actors of all time, has had a wrenching couple of years losing both siblings (Corin, Lynn & Vanessa's brother died just one month ago) and her daughter who died tragically fourteen months ago.

Though they only shared the big screen once, the sisters were close. They rose to fame with near synchronicity. Lynn will forever be known for Georgy Girl (1966) for which she was Oscar-nominated. Appropriately enough, given the family name, she shared that "first nomination" experience with her elder sister who was also honored with her first nod that year for Morgan.

Lynn Redgrave in 1966

In a joint npr interview in 2005 in which the sisters display plenty of respect and affection for each other, they discussed that breakthrough year.

Reporter: Was it hard to be in competition with each other in that way?
Vanessa: Not at all.
Lynn: It was lovely. I remember we kept being asked because the last set of sisters had reportedly -- which was Joan Fontaine and Olivia deHavilland -- been a little at odds with each other... Of course it makes a better press story for sisters to be jealous and hate each other. Just not true. We were -- we really couldn't believe that we were both going to the Oscars with our mum!

Young movie buffs will probably know Lynn best for her frequently indelible supporting performances in pictures like Gods & Monsters (1998, she was Oscar nominated) and Kinsey (2004). She never stopped working, even after her diagnosis. In te latter film she had just a short cameo but proved so moving in her closeup monologue that there was "nomination worthy!" rumblings at the time.

Vanessa and Lynn sisters offscreen and on for The White Countess (2005) --->

The last film I personally remember seeing Lynn in was Merchant/Ivory's The White Countess (2005) which starred three members of the family: Vanessa, Lynn and Natasha. The film is sadly becoming one of those properties that accidentally eulogizes several things at once; it's a gorgeous multiple swansong. It turned out to be both Ishmael Merchant's last film and Natasha's last leading role in a feature. It was also, as it turns out, the first and last movie collaboration between Vanessa and Lynn.

Rest in peace, Georgy Girl.