THE DEVILS, Ken Russell’s grandiose and provocatively scandalous adaptation of the notorious witchcraft trial in 17th Century France, has its own indisputable artistic flourish albeit its thinly veiled obloquy and ridicule of the insidious backscratching between religion and politics, actualized in the most wanton style which can be both riveting and endurance-testing.
Father Urban Grandier (Reed), a Catholic priest in the city of Loudun, is as liberal in his attitude towards Protestants as in his views on sex, woman and marriage, which makes him a fair game in the eyes of Cardinal Richelieu (Logue), who is spoiling for a theocratic regime by ingratiating himself with a flamboyantly attired Louis XIII (Armitage), who opens the film with a ludicrous playacting. So the actual persecution is carried off by Richelieu's minions, the Baron de Laubardemont (Sutton, an exemplar of dastardly evil-doer) and an adept inquisitor Father Pierre Barre (Gothard, hard to take him seriously with his jarringly out-of-context hippie hairdo and histrionic enthusiasm). Distinctly and blatantly, Russell plays the anachronistic card to accentuate the whole scenario’s fulsome scale of delusion and sleaze: the town’s cubistic buildings, the prison-like, cemented interior of the church and low-ceiling convent. It marks a big leap from other more detail-revered period films, that is where Russell pushes the envelope of his unorthodox vision and constructs something so bombastically lavish, idiosyncratic, sacrilegious and explicit to make great play of the harrowing witch-hunt and jeer at the religious brainwashing.
Oliver Reed’s macho bravado is not everyone’s cuppa, but tellingly he is riveting to behold in the show trial and on the stake, operatic but counterpoising the sadistic atrocity with his own stamina and compassion. Vanessa Redgrave’sSister Jeanne des Anges, a twisted character subjugated to her repressed sexuality, is both a victim and an inexplicable indictor, her tour-de-force is staggeringly perverse and utterly stirring, a deformed figure imprisoned by her warped faith, mouthing the ugly truth of nun’s ill-fated destiny, from this regard, the orgiastic sequence (much is cut from the original version but re-added in shoddy quality in this DVD version) in the heat of the exorcism, evokes a ghost of misogyny and misgivings that Russell’s abandon seems to be beyond the pale in his unrestrained demonization, not of the Establishment, but of the powerless and downtrodden. Last but not the least,a dazzling Gemma Jones debuts as Madeleine De Brou, Grandier’s wife, who could have been put to good use (or at least a chance to give her own voice, however it would be inconsequential for the preordained judgement) in the fray if Russell’s modernist take doesn’t opt to kept her entirely off-screen during the show trial of her husband.
All things considered, THE DEVILS substantiates itself as a cultish eye-opener for the liberal-minded audience, but definitely a bugbear among devout God-botherers, a monumental artifact only can be conceived and manufactured in the age of liberation.
referential point: Russell’s TOMMY (1975, 7.4/10)
能明白当年禁映的原因,你直戳戳的告诉宗教徒他们的正义性来自世俗权力的倾轧而非万能的上帝、神性只是空空如也的盒子里的谎言、圣洁的修女淫乱的和娼妓一般在教堂赤身裸体、政教合一既残酷又癫狂、教廷的事儿不是追求真理的争辩而是争权夺利的阴谋、以信仰之名藏纳了数不尽的迫害,可不得戳着他们的肺管子吗,瓦妮莎·雷德格雷夫的歪脖子修女和迈克尔·戈特哈德的眼镜神父演的极其精彩,奥列佛·里德被吐槽长的不帅没有吸引众女的合理性,但是其实很有性张力
what a disturbing film full of poetic sickness
3.5。真是肮脏又淫乱。所有宗教的诞生都伴随着“牺牲品”。所有女人-修女(出生丑陋嫁不出去才做修女)对耶稣和神父的绝对臣服与迷恋(肉欲)仿若女巫的诞生。契合“女人是原罪,女人是一切罪恶的起源。”的基调。一小时后的淫趴几乎达到了疯魔般的亵渎。修女疯狂撸蜡烛/赤身坐于耶稣雕像上…
Russell从来不给片子停下来呼吸的机会。同年拍的波兰的Diabel也以一种歇斯底里的方式探讨性、宗教、权利,就更为立体深刻。仅管如此,他的努力和野心也堪比Pasolini的索多马了。
很难再找出一部电影能够更加肆无忌惮地亵渎天主教会,它几乎是以喜剧甚至接近于闹剧的方式拍摄的,但其主要角色的塑造和剪辑方式则为叙事基调带来完全相反的诡异与恐怖的气氛,镜头中的荒诞与诡异的配乐烘托出一种冲突强烈而扭曲疯癫的氛围,而火刑那场戏视觉冲击力极强的剪辑则是这种特殊风格的极致
"the tourist season is coming, we need a bigger theatre"第一次驱魔开始的father barre像摇滚明星,眼看着观众一场一场多起来. 反正中世纪烧女巫常常serve观看的人群 jesus-judas-devil在火墙里不分彼此dont look at me look at your city. fight or become slave.
Cinema Museum 重映,Mark Kermode 做介绍,讲到本片长期遭到华纳禁映的历史,BFI为修复本片做出的努力。非常精彩的关于宗教与政治的反思,并且,竟然并不病态和晦涩,直白,有力,不用隐喻,而用的荒诞景象本身,来展示政教勾结的可怕后果。
人力滚轮拆墙机,宗教审判业务部,酒池肉林驱魔宴,火刑狂欢嘉年华;空圣盒,猎鸟人,骷髅风车一路转……最伟大的驱魔电影,也许没有之一。Mel Gibson和Terry Gilliam一定受此片影响很多,当然,还有修女系的SM porn
绝对伟大作品。强烈的文本、典故与疯魔的感官、肢体交融。拍出了所有真实历史的伤痕,也揭露了欲望与信仰、原罪与圣行交锋焦灼的苦楚。坚石之城、人骨轮盘,德里克·贾曼为本片设计布景后转向电影。
在Ken Russell对于Huxley的影像化之中,创伤性的蒙太奇暗示着对影像的剪辑等同于招魂术——亵渎在修女让娜的祈祷之中突然出现,“诱惑”以影像的方式现身,作为取代神圣的反客为主之物。论薄伽丘式的爱,或曰迷恋。《卢》所呈现的逼仄修道院并不存在神迹,由肉体驱动的信仰之名,在禁欲的表象之下,德莱叶借用受难者面孔背后无限空间构成画外的无限延伸直通超验之时,《卢》对于格拉维耶神父的处理则反其道而行之,狂欢化的空间与有限延伸的修道院拱顶是逼仄的,在影片之中,纵使画面将在摄影机之外有所延伸,却始终维持着某种封闭的有限性。唯一的哥特时刻:国王和主教到来,修女们以裸体召唤Glavier神父的肉体之名,被审判的神父身后的暗色调不断延伸。不应该忘记的是,病态的迷恋是哥特神圣的另外一面。
8.5/10。卢丹教区神父因与性压抑的修女们荒淫无度而冒犯了保守势力导致被他们用酷刑诬陷折磨至死的故事。各种摄影美术和诡异仪式的设计都极具原创感极其邪典、癫狂、亵渎,但作为传统故事片叙事节奏太混乱了。
http://weibo.com/1565377705/DqBJIEDy7?type=repost#_rnd1460440235152
我怀疑我看的盗版在画幅上出了问题,画幅比原来的更窄了(本身画幅就窄),在这种逼仄的框架里,人物的身体所表现出的扭曲更能加大某种“痛苦”。一面是画幅的长向极限延伸,一面是画幅的宽向人物逼近,一切(尤其是画幅中要表现的人物主体)都贴近了那个不可逾越的边缘,更加显示出某种不可能的抵抗,摩擦由此产生、咬着牙抵住门的圣母像由此产生。关键词是扭曲、极限、与边缘。就像在女主脊柱上隆起的棱角一样,在这样的画幅里,女主也像皮肤下的一块块骨头像从画框中挣脱出去、彻底的溢出!也恰恰是骨头挣脱出皮肤的不能,人物挣脱出画幅的不能导致了对抗关系中始终持续的紧张状态。一切在皮肤与骨头、人物的与画框顶撞的力与力中流动、然后凝固。
Plus d’une simple fustigation envers les dérives du pouvoir ecclésiastique appuyée par la dénonciation du fanatisme et l’obscurantisme, les Diables excelle avant tout par son esthétique formelle (couleur, décors, plans) sans oublier ses scènes cultes audacieuses
与Ken Russell同场看这部电影的大屏幕,是件幸福的事。
假如看的是Uncut版本会不会觉得更有冲击力一些?我猜并不会,因为毕竟有《熔炉》珠玉在前。[恶魔]有着类似的故事,但重点不在道德而在人性之恶上。在贾曼无邪坎普的布景下,这个人间惨剧变成了荒诞闹剧。这种独特的风格是如此夺眼球,让人几乎没看到这个剧本本身的扎实,特别是台词写得极有水准。
以格兰蒂的死收尾了,政治的部分就结束了,电影里表现出的人物行为因明确的前因后果和显得更合理化;赫胥黎书的下半段里,慕男狂的让娜修女以圣女自居走上朝圣之旅受到王公贵族的接见;性、宗教、狂热、人的非理性可以有更深的探讨。
肯.拉塞尔又一次展现他奇妙的视界,宗教的野蛮神秘与性的偏激奔放,融汇成惊心动魄的景象,一个性的无政府社会。
传说中的修女剥削电影,真是一片群魔乱舞的景象....
叹为观止的直白讽刺。政教合一的权力乱像,借用禁欲主义引来的疯魔导致乌合之众的狂欢。影片的视听美学也运用的相当高级,彩色影片却用了大量黑白设计,禁欲的教堂墙面设计成的黑白格子,一尘不染的环境,低矮的房间还有修女直不起来的脖子处处表现宗教的性压抑。最后一个镜头的超现实主义构图,城墙打开,神父的妻子走向绝望未知的未来。视听手法对传统宗教赤裸裸的挑战至今仍然让大部分人难以承受,大概是因为审查发行知名度不高,感觉索多玛120天与之相比都弱了很多。