Mère Jeanne des anges

In what could be viewed as a sequel to Ken Russell's The Devils (1970), Jerzy Kawalerowicz's bleak but brilliant drama tells the infamous story of the so-called 'Loudon Possessions', in which a convent of nuns were said to have been possessed by a variety of demons, seducing men and indulging in sinful activities while the Church sent priests to exorcise them. It resulted in the death of French Catholic priest Urbain Grandier, who was burned at the stake after suggestions were made that he had succumbed to evil himself, forging a 'diabolical pact' that bound his soul to the Devil. It's an event that has caught the imagination of many artists, including the aforementioned Russell, as well as Aldous Huxley. but never has it been portrayed with such terrifying foreboding as in Mother Joan of the Angels.

Father Suryn (Mieczyslaw Voit) is sent to a Polish convent in the seventeenth century, where talk amongst the sparse townsfolk are of the wicked acts committed by the nuns of the convent that looms over the town like a ghost. At the head of this apparent possession is Mother Joan (Lucyna Winnicka), who tells Suryn of the fate of the previous priest, whose charred remains still lie at the burning post. Suryn is so horrified by what he sees as the purest of evils that he promises to rid Joan of her affliction, even if it is at the expense of his own soul, becoming a martyr in the fight against Satan's influence.

The picture is black and white and the cinematography is dark and empty, capturing the hopelessness of this small, insignificant and nameless town. It resembles the minimalistic work of Ingmar Bergman and Carl Theodor Dreyer, and shares many of the conflicted representations of religion that frequented the auteur's back catalogue. The film occasionally branches out into horror, with close-ups and shadows used to powerful effect as Satan's influence creeps into Suryn's soul, leading him to reach out in desperation to a rabbi in what is one of the film's most powerful scenes. It's also a twisted love story between Joan and Suryn, transcending mere desire into something deeper and unspoken. Complex and courageous, Kawalerowicz's film will most likely always be overshadowed by Russell's more provocative work, but this is one of the finest works to come out of 60's Poland.

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This movie is a about a priest that comes to a small village to help in the exorcism of mother superior that is possessed by the 8 demons.

Camera: Everything looks fine and is sharp black and white pictures.

Characters: You do not really get any insight in any of the characters except the tormented priest that are there to save mother superior. You never feel any anguish or anything from all the possessed nuns. All the nuns are just happy. I am not sure it the village people at the inn was meant to seem like they were possessed too or just plain demented.

Story: Sorry to say but there was indeed very little of it. Most of the movie was spend watching people that did not tell what happened prior to the movie or moving the story along. Rest of the time was spend following the priest and his doubt in himself and his ability to save mother superior. The exorcism part was fine though but was never followed up on or commented on. The movie may approach some theological issues that could be interesting, but nothing that had not been seen or done better already in 1961.

Classification: Drama | Horror | Mystery - I am quite puzzled why this movie is classified as horror and mystery. There is no horror at all. Mystery I am not really understanding either as the movie do nothing really to tell what happened before and what is now going on. It is a pure drama following the priest

Verdict: Good idea but too long and unfocused. At least half an hour too long. In the end i felt they gave a solution to the priests troubled mind but not any story about the events there. If all being possessed by the devil means for a nun that she is happy singing and dancing then let us all be possessed to make a better world.

If you love old European movies about self doubt and finding yourself and god this may be the movie for you. Otherwise my recommendation is skip it.

Released a decade earlier than Ken Russell's The Devils, yet functioning as a spiritual successor of sorts, Jerzy Kawalerowicz's Mother Joan of the Angels also bases its story around the 17th century Loudun possessions to interesting effect, especially when taking into consideration the vast stylistic differences that define each film.

Where Russell exposed the ugliness of this tale of unholy devotion through farce, allowing his characters to writhe around in all the filth and hypocrisy that defined the period, Kawalerowicz created a world where the peasants, nuns, and clergymens' mindsets were treated as frankly as it may have been for those residing in it, unaware of any other reality besides their own. It was documentation not through historical hindsight but by retracing the footsteps that led to its foregone conclusion. Russell's maximalism replaced with Kawalerowicz's minimalism. Vibrant colors traded in for textural black and white. Psychosexual phantasmagoria replaced by emanations of a slowly corruptive force.

If a directors' execution could be grouped by an imaginary school of thought, these two men may as well be rivaling factions. Rusell's proximity to Alejandro Jodorowsky in stylistic technique equals the vastness that may group Kawalerowicz to Frantisek Vlacil when tackling the same subject matter. And yet, both films are masterfully done despite their radical departures in approach.

With Mother Joan of the Angels, Kawalerowicz showcases the temptation, elation, and destructive power that blind devotion could manifest. A thin margin separating spiritual ecstasy from cardinal desire. A nudge made in either direction holding the power to change a pillar of sanctity into one accused of sacrilege. The same kind of thin margin that separates the physical space between a nun and priest, bound by an unspoken unison. It's either sainthood or sinner. Any system defined by that sort of dogmatic rule is a house of cards waiting to topple.

An honest meditation on faith and its inescapable fight with the world that surrounds it, Kawalerowicz's Mother Joan of the Angels has cult-classic status written all over it. All it's missing is its faithful congregation.

Father Jozef Suryn (Mieczyslaw Voit) is the latest in a long line of priests dispatched to an isolated 17th century convent to investigate the rumours of satanic obsession and possession affecting the nuns who live there. His particular task is to exorcise Mother Joan of the Angels,(Lucyna Winnicka) the mother superior of the convent who it would seem is possessed by numerous demons. Father Josef has been in training so to speak for many weeks, through prayer, abstinence, limited fasting and self flagellation and when he arrives at a nearby inn, he is shocked at the rumours he hears from the locals,who seem to take great pleasure in telling him of his difficult task, a task it would appear his that is going to be very difficult as the previous incumbent of his job had just recently been burnt at the stake.

Mother Joan of the Angels was in fact based on real events and might be considered by some as one of the earliest examples of Nunsploitation, but the film is not exploitative in any way and never resorts to nudity or explicit sex, in fact it's a beautifully filmed, superbly acted horror drama that it would seem was very influential on William Friedkin's The Exorcist(1973), in fact if I hadn't previously known of its influence I would be comparing it to that film along with perhaps Bergman's Sjunde inseglet, Det (1957)a film set in a similar time frame that also boasts many wonderful scenes of rusticity amongst the peasants and that explores their every fear, not least in the first 15 mins where Mother Joan of the Angels is, it must be said, slow to get going, but in a good way, as Kawalerowicz builds up the tension, there is much talk and speculation amongst the peasants as the demonic things that go in the convent, the viewer is left in high anticipation of the evil that lurks there. The stunning high contrast black & white photography by Jerzy Wójcik is reminiscent of many an expressionistic silent era film, in particular the first meeting between the two main characters is superb as the juxtaposition of Suryn's black hair, black beard and black robe against Mother Joan's pure white habit and headdress is very striking, mainly because the classic colours of good and evil are actually reversed, for Mother Joan is possessed by no less than eight demons which don't take long to show themselves to Suryn, his plight seems doomed to failure as he is a man unsure of his own ability, his wide eyes giving away his fear of the demons and his task ahead. On the whole the film is an very intelligent character study that also touches on some very interesting theological issues, issues that are explored when Suryn goes to a local Rabbi for help. The only negative I would say for the film concerns the DVD which had some really poor subtitles, other than that I can't recommend it highly enough.9/10

A slow-burn horror for the imagination, atmospheric and superbly acted, the players get more expression from their eyes than I've seen in any film since the silent days. Yet the voices of the 'devils' as they speak through Mother Joanna are all scarily differentiated. A great setting, empty and expressionist, which I believe was a rubbish tip or an old quarry near Lodz. The convent set was, like Black Narcissus, entirely a studio construction. I can't remember the last time I saw such crisp pellucid black and white photography. In plot terms, this is a sequel to Ken Russell's The Devils, near the beginning we see the stake where Grandier (his name changed to something a bit more Polish-sounding) had been burnt. There are no more burnings in this film, but the shadow of the stake overhangs the action, underlining that even when a story ends, the characters go on. As they will go on in your mind after you've watched this film. You'll talk about it - What will happen to them next?