Madre Giovanna degli angeli

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

Directed by Jerzy Kawalerowicz and inspired by the (presumably) real case of the "Loudun Possessions", the story of "Mother Joan of the Angels" is set on the seventeenth century, in a small village in Poland. There, a priest known as Jozef Suryn (Mieczyslaw Voit ) is sent to a convent, to help a group of nuns, who have been suffering from demonic possessions, especially Mother Joan (Lucyna Winnicka). As soon as Jozef meets Mother Joan, she threatens him with her diabolic voice and tells him that it won't be easy to cast the demons away and that she's not afraid of him. From that moment on, Father Jozef finds himself fighting and struggling to help the poor Mother Joan and cast the evil forces away.

This films offers the classic "good vs. evil" battle, by showing common places, such as the evil woman and the courageous man who fights against all odds, risking his own life, because he's so kind-hearted that he feels compelled to save the ill-fated woman. These archetypes are mostly shown in the two main characters (Jozef and Mother Joan), although these two are not the only ones. The rest of the nuns, for example, look eerie and unsettling throughout most of the film. There's something strangely disturbing about the nuns in this film, something about the way they move and the look in their eyes, which combines numbness and malevolence at the same time.

"Mother Joan of the Angels" is a film that probably doesn't have much of a scare value compared to the newer films, but I would like to think that anyone who has a little bit of patience and doesn't expect gore and explicit violence, will be able to appreciate it for what it is. This type of horror is not for everybody but there's a lot of things that make this film very dark and powerful. While the new audiences would probably disagree with me, I think this film is not as slow-paced as it looks, judging by the first minutes. As I mentioned before, the key is to have a little patience, allow the character development, until reaching the well-awaited climax.

Visually speaking, "Mother Joan of the Angels" is pretty much flawless. Thought there aren't any amazing special effects, the shots, the setting and the contrasting photography create a very dark atmosphere, which is reminiscent of a dream-like sequence. There's something strange about this film: on the one hand, it is unsettling and dark, but there's also something very soothing about it. I'm not sure if it's the beautiful landscapes, the fact that it is black and white, the long philosophical dialogs or maybe all of those things combined.

The acting is mostly perfect, especially the main actress, Lucyna Winnicka, who manages to convey the poor innocent woman and the evil woman at the same time, without looking campy. Her expressions, her body language, her voice and the way she moves is impressive. I am not easily scared, but I will say that I was very impressed with the scenes involving "evil" Mother Joan. As for the male lead, there's really nothing to complain, as he delivers a perfectly believable character, but simply not as memorable as his female counterpart. As a matter of fact, I was pleasantly surprised by how good were most of the actors, as I was expecting something overly histrionic and more campy.

The subject of this film is a fascinating one and it has been portrayed in several media with great eloquence. I know nothing at all about the director of this film except that he is apparently not an experienced director at all. He might be a writer or theologian or philosopher but his field of expertise does not extend to direction. The film is poorly paced, verbose and it drags on for at least thirty minutes in excess. It repeats itself almost literally near the end to make a rather feeble point that it actually does have structure with apologies, I suppose, for the talk fest for the past two hours plus.. Frankly,I can't find anything to admire in it.

Curtis Stotlar

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?

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.