Synopsis
In 17th-century France, Father Urbain Grandier seeks to protect the city of Loudun from the corrupt establishment of Cardinal Richelieu. Hysteria occurs within the city when he is accused of witchcraft by a sexually repressed nun.
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Cast
- Vanessa RedgraveSister Jeanne des Anges
- Oliver ReedFather Urbain Grandier
- Dudley SuttonBaron de Laubardemont
- Max AdrianIbert
- Gemma JonesMadeleine de Brou
- Murray MelvinFather-Canon Jean Mignon
- Michael GothardFather Pierre Barre
- Georgina HalePhilippe Trincant
- Brian MurphyAdam
- Christopher LogueCardinal Richelieu
Recommendations
- 83
IndieWire
The 1971 epic offers a stylish and scathing parable about the dangerous ways that the powerful can exploit religious zeal to stay that way. - 80
The Guardian
There is much to irritate in the film, but it's bold, individual and a landmark in British cinema, with outstanding performances. - 75
The A.V. Club
Russell’s penchant for aesthetic excess is thoroughly indulged, as the director stages grotesque human tableaus straight out of Hieronymus Bosch over Derek Jarman’s intricately detailed sets. The result gives the story a sort of wanton, overripe feel, with such ostensibly austere environments as a cloistered convent about to explode with repressed sensuality. - 75
Chicago Reader
The funniest thing about this 1971 Ken Russell camp epic is probably the juxtaposition of its first-class production values (a good cast, great set design, marvelous photography) with Russell's no-class sexual fantasies—it's like a David Lean remake of Pink Flamingos. - 70
Time
It is like a lunatic opera, an attempt to make a furious poem out of frenzy. Russell's flamboyant theatricality and his interest in the perverse have been too much imposed on his other films; but here, style and subject are perfectly matched. The film does not work as drama. But as a glimpse of hell it is superbly, frighteningly effective. - 60
Time Out
No matter how thickly Russell piles on the masturbating nuns, tortured priests and dissolute dauphins, there's no getting round the fact that it's all more redolent of a camp revue than a cathartic vision. Derek Jarman's sets, however, still look terrific. - 60
Empire
Whatever the moral perspective, it keeps you gripped right to the end. - 50
TV Guide Magazine
The set design, by future director Derek Jarman, is probably the most successful element of the film.
