I first watched this in 1995 on the BBCs forbidden weekend. I was 14. And yes, television was way better. I never watched The Devils since. It left me with an intense feeling and imagery of sexual and scary things. I gave it another go now many years later, expecting no more than a revisit of a movie I'd now probably find laughable. No. It's still as brutal as I remember. Less so on the sexual aspects now I'm older but more on the actual story and meaning. This movie starts conventional enough, it gets really twisted as the story unfolds, and finally it become a movie that make you think. It make me think about societies past and present, and how destructive and disturbing they are. This movie is based on true events. It also made me think about our animalist desires vs self control, and that in this movie it's a constant battle. It make me think about the nature of morality itself; it's origins and use in ordered society. It makes us but what make it, and how to some is it to concrete and too users interchangeable ideals when selfish gains or sexual satisfaction is at stake. Also, it's beautifully shot and the cast is superb. I don't think we'll ever see a movie like this again.

A weird and intriguing masterpiece in cinema history. Beware, this is not for the faint of heart or for people with strong catholic believes (though they could learn something if they would be able to open their minds to reality). It is though, to my mind, closer to the reality of what faith was (and is), namely a vehicle of power and perversion to control and abuse the simple minds. Very graphic, very direct and very strong in its message. Note that, despite seeming to exaggerate the truth, it is based on true events, so it is closer to reality than one might think. A classic for people with open minds.

I can see why it was so scandalous at the time. It depicts a damning image of the Church. From Richelieu's political scheming, to the main protagonist being a priest but also impregnating young girls here and there. Then showing the travesty of exorcism, the use of torture to bring fake confessions, etc. However, the torture is not shown. There are orgy adjacent scenes but you actually just see some nuns t&a. There are not many graphic images. There is really nothing particularly shocking in it nowadays. The beginning part is pretty long. A bit on the city's political issues. A bit on the nun's life (extremely boring). A bit on the priest's life (ok but could have been half shorter). Then come the weird part. Since the orgy scenes probably could not be shown explicitly, it's just a noisy mess of nuns pretending to be possessed, but always in front of a public. And this is long, way too long. I assume this was maybe more novel and shocking and interesting at the time. The exorcist priest is the most fun (in a sense) character by far. It really takes a while before accusations arrive. It gets more interesting after that, with the trial sequence, but it's really at the end. I haven't looked yet what the real events were exactly.

This is like if Carl Theodore Dreyer and Arthur Miller teamed up and made a movie, but for Cinemax. It's absolutely unhinged and generally not worth the time, but it's also far more watchable than similar schlock due to Redgrave and Reed.

Saw this on Shudder and was hyped to see this one. Is it exceptional? No. It was well acted but far from a masterpiece. The plot is actually pretty decent. Follow the narrative of what actually happened. The way it's all went down was just boring to watch. I can see why people praise this movie so much but it's just not for me.