Review by David Paul Hellings
@HellingsOnFilm
“A celebrated landmark of Polish cinema, the award-winning Mother Joan of the Angels has been restored from its original materials and is presented in a new high-definition transfer.
Taking the infamous and documented ‘demonic possession’ of a group of nuns in Loudun, France in 1634 as his starting point (events subsequently also adapted by Ken Russell for his notorious film “The Devils”), director Jerzy Kawalerowicz created an intensely provocative and visually astonishing film. Aided by an extraordinary performance by Lucyna Winnicka as Mother Joan, the possessed Mother Superior of the convent, and Mieczysław Voit as the troubled priest Father Józef Suryn, Kawalerowicz’s masterpiece is a profoundly disturbing exploration of faith, repression, fanaticism and sexuality.
The DVD features the film presented from a new high-definition restoration of the film, supervised by the film’s cinematographer
Jerzy Wójcik, plus an exclusive new filmed appreciation by writer and film historian Michael Brooke and new essay by Dr David Sorfa”.
-via Second Run DVD
Review:
The story of the possession of a group of nuns in Loudun, France in 1634 is best known to filmgoers through Ken Russell’s superb 1971 “The Devils”, still unavailable in its uncut form due to Warner Brothers’ continued refusal to seemingly validate it as one of their releases because of their fear of a backlash by right wing Christian conservatives in the US. The ‘X’ rated UK theatrical release finally saw light with an excellent BFI release, and it is a film that still shocks to this day. Director Jerzy Kawalerowicz’s 1960 “Mother Joan of the Angels” also takes the Loudun possession case and presents his version of it in a film that has largely been ignored or forgotten.
Whereas “The Devils” was a lush, highly stylised outing with unforgettable sets by Derek Jarman, a career best performance from Oliver Reed, and intensely shocking representations of the sexual nature of the supposed possessions themselves, and a focus on the politics of the story, “Mother Joan of the Angels” is a more minimalistic affair: a remote convent in the hills the main location, the cast low in numbers, and the film focusing on the relationship between Mother Joan (Lucyna Winnicka), the supposedly possessed head of the convent, and Father Józef Suryn (Mieczysław Voit), the doomed Priest sent to try and exorcise her. Both actors are superb in their roles, with Voit particularly impressive as the noble yet troubled man questioning the role of God in the world and his own ability to do anything about the problems he sees at the convent.
There are moments within “Mother Joan of the Angels” that must have directly influenced William Friedkin in his seminal “The Exorcist” or perhaps William Peter Blatty in his original novel. It’s hard to see how it could have been otherwise. Director Jerzy Kawalerowicz focuses not on horror, but on the creeping and subtle aspects of possession to create a story in which questions are posed with unpleasant answers given. Written by the director during 1943, based on a novella, the film is widely seen as a metaphor for the fight against Fascism. In his excellent essay in the accompanying booklet that comes with the DVD, Dr. David Sorfa states (*contains Spoilers) that:
“The events at Loudun present an exemplary case where interior worlds clash with exterior world views, attuned to the ways in which the repressions within the individual can only speak through the pageantry of possession. It is this expression of what we may call dissent against political and sexual repression that becomes the central image for the various versions of the story.
Kawalerowicz’s presentation of the exorcism is so very different from the equivalent scenes in either The Devils, or its American counterpart The Exorcist (William Friedkin, 1973). In both of these later films, the exorcism is presented as terrifying spectacle filled with libidinous energy and, especially in the case of Russell, a sexualised hysteria which recalls very clearly the theatre of hysteria in Charcot’s pre-psychoanalytic treatments (see Georges Didi-Huberman’s idiosyncratic history Invention of Hysteria: Charcot and the Photographic Iconography of the Salpêtrière, 2003). Kawalerowicz however presents the exorcism in a surprisingly restrained manner. This extended and virtually silent sequence takes place almost exactly halfway through the film. The final shot of that sequence has the assembled possessed nuns prostrate themselves on the floor – the image has their white habits forming white cross-shapes in front of the altar and assembled exorcists – and the long shot of their abasement as the is one of the most powerful in the film. It is perhaps not surprising that the next shot we see is of Suryn reaching for his whip and flagellating himself on his bare back. The emotion of the exorcism is explicitly sublimated into the sensuousness of pain. The very first image in the film is of Suryn lying prostrate on the ground. The camera is positioned directly over the figure with his head at the bottom of the screen, presenting us with a living inverted cross and this recalls both the crucifixion of Peter, who insisted on being crucified upside down so as not to imitate and therefore invite comparison to the crucified Christ, but is also a well-known symbol of Satan. This double image sets up very clearly the story that will follow: there will be a martyrdom of extraordinary self-sacrifice and humility, but this martyr will also be tainted by delusion and evil”.
In “Mother Joan of the Angels”, the central question is that of what is good and what is evil, and also pontificates on the what if Satan was the creator of the world theory? It adds to moments of genuine creepiness that focus on the psychological, rather than graphic, fear of the scenario, resulting in a film that is provocative and illuminating. The restoration brings the stark black and white imagery to new life and is another example of how significant Polish cinema was and how influential it has been upon so many filmmakers that followed.
Another excellent release from Second Run DVD and one that is a must see for fans of Polish cinema and possession films.
Main cast and crew
Lucyna Winnicka – Mother Joan
Mieczysław Voit – Father Józef Suryn / the Rabbi
Anna Ciepielewska – Sister Małgorzata
Maria Chwalibóg – Awdosia
Kazimierz Fabisiak – Father Brym
Stanisław Jasiukiewicz – The Squire
Zygmunt Zintel – Wołodkowicz/the Innkeeper
Directed by Jerzy Kawalerowicz
Screenplay – Tadeusz Konwicki and Jerzy Kawalerowicz
from a novella by Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz
Cinematography – Jerzy Wójcik
Art Direction – Roman Mann, Tadeusz Borowczyk
Editors – Wiesława Otocka, Felicja Rogowska
Sound – Józef Bartczak, Zygmunt Nowak, Jozef Kensikowski
Music – Adam Walaciński
Special features:
Presented from a new high-definition restoration of the film, supervised by the film’s cinematographer Jerzy Wójcik.
Newly filmed, exclusive appreciation by writer and film historian Michael Brooke.
New and improved English subtitle translation.
20-page booklet featuring a new essay by author and film lecturer Dr David Sorfa, and Michael Brooke on director Kawalerowicz.
Optimal quality dual-layer disc.
Poland, 1960
Length / Mother Joan of the Angels: 105 mins
Length / Special feature: 21 mins
Sound: Original mono (restored)
Black and white
Original aspect ratio: 1.33:1 full frame
Language: Polish
Subtitles: English On/Off
PAL DVD9
Region 0
RRP: £12.99
https://secondrundvd.ecwid.com/ – %21/Mother-Joan-of-the-Angels-Matka-Joanna-od-Anio%C5%82%C3%B3w/p/53122553/category=0
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