Last month, we learned the news that the highly controversial and undisputed masterpiece, Ken Russell’s The Devils, had received a 4K restoration featuring the filmmaker’s official director’s cut for the first time.
Now, a stunning new poster has been released for the restoration, recreating the unforgettable image of Vanessa Redgrave’s Sister Jeanne suspended by chains during the film’s descent into religious hysteria. The artwork strips away everything around her, leaving only Jeanne, the chains, and the inverted cross, perfectly capturing The Devils’ collision of religion, sexuality, blasphemy, and madness.
Russell’s most notorious film is set in “17th-century France, where Father Urbain Grandier’s protection of the city of Loudun from the corrupt Cardinal Richelieu is undermined by a sexually repressed nun’s accusation of witchcraft.”
The film stars Oliver Reed and Vanessa Redgrave.
Having premiered to rapturous excitement at Cannes earlier this year, this restoration is cut to Russell’s specific direction. No other formal director’s cut exists. It references the edit he privately constructed in 2004, providing the uncut and unfiltered theatrical experience that the filmmaker always envisioned.
The new 4K restoration of Russell’s masterpiece was assembled from the original camera negative. The film’s sound has been remastered from the original English composite 35mm Mag Film, transferred at 96kHz, plus other original film elements in selected spots as needed.
The picture and sound restoration was performed by Warner Bros. Post Production Creative Services, Water Tower Color, and Warner Bros. Sound, with reconstruction of the director’s cut undertaken by Lucida Productions in London.
Go to hell with Ken Russell’s The Devils when the new director’s cut arrives in theaters for one week beginning October 16 via Warner Bros. Clockwork.
