Let’s conclude this year’s Spooktacular Eight by reviewing the 1960 Polish classic Mother Joan Of The Angels, also known as The Devil And The Nun.
Based on the real, documented case of demonic possession (or mass hysteria, let’s be real) that affected the nuns and took place in 1634 at a convent in Loudlun, France… well, indirectly, as it actually based on a novel of the same name by Jaroslaw Iwaszkiewicz (which would later by adapted by Kent Russell for the infamous The Devils), itself loosely based on the aforementioned Loudlun possessions.
The plot – unsurprisingly – it set in the 17th centhury and sees a priest being seint to a convent in Smolenk, to investigate on a case of demonic possessions, after the local priest, Father Garniec, was burn at the stake after sexually harassing the nuns.
He learns that all nuns are supposedly possessed by demons, especially the abbess, Mother Joan, whom claims to have 8 daemons in her, and seeks info from the only nun that doesn’t seem to be harboring one of dem evil spirits…
It’s a great film, but i feel people might come with some “imperfect” expectations by framing this as one of the earliest nun-ploixations films ever made, which isn’t exactly false, but it might mislead into expecting something that Mother Joan Of The Angels simply is not.
Though there’s also to be said that the film itself isn’t trying to be safe at all, and at the time of release it must have been quite disruptive, weird and bold, but seen today it might feel tame, definitely on the graphical side, even more so if you expect to see sex and violence, heck, when something extremly violent happens, we’re told it happened offscreen.
Point is, do not expect The Nun spin-offs of The Conjuring films, nor do expect some of the later films of the “nun-xploitation” trend that gave us stuff like Alucarda, Love Letters of a Portuguese Nun, it’s not even The Nun Of Monza, because this movie is simply not that.
It’s a highly stylized psychological drama about faith, repression, clerical zealotry and catholical repression, that also happens to deal in themes of horror and supernatural (though to critique the church’s , that was quite sensual for its day, and still today has an imposing quality, elegant and intense that’s a brazen critique of clerical dogma and catholical hypocrisy, prefering to discuss, confront and display psychological violence and repressed sexuality over a nun’s going around with an axe like a slasher villain (which is fun but it a cheaper kind of fun), echoing more silent films in the vein off Dreyer’s, in which the magnificent black-and-white cinematography does wonder to depict this small, indistinct, repressed and recluse small world.
The performances and characters are magnetizing, not just Mieczyslay Voit as the repressed but devoted Father Garniec, but especially Lucyna Winnicka as Mother Joan herself, an enigmatic yet sincere mystery of a character, whom you never know if she’s continuing a desperate act, if she’s genuinelly possessed, or she is simply a victim of the dogma more than the demons.
Again, it’s a pity old Cronos did make – retrospect is what it is – the film a bit tamer than modern audiences might expect (maybe even restrained), and it might be a bit slow moving for some, but it’s definitely worth seeking out to see and to be remembered alongside the aforementioned Kent Russell’s The Devils.
It is not surprising at all it won the “Special Jury Prize “ for Cannes’ 1961 edition, i’ll say as much.
Wise Cafe (International) 