49
Metascore
11 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- There is much to irritate in the film, but it's bold, individual and a landmark in British cinema, with outstanding performances.
- 75The A.V. ClubKatie RifeThe A.V. ClubKatie RifeRussell’s penchant for aesthetic excess is thoroughly indulged, as the director stages grotesque human tableaus straight out of Hieronymus Bosch over Derek Jarman’s intricately detailed sets. The result gives the story a sort of wanton, overripe feel, with such ostensibly austere environments as a cloistered convent about to explode with repressed sensuality.
- 75Chicago ReaderDave KehrChicago ReaderDave KehrThe funniest thing about this 1971 Ken Russell camp epic is probably the juxtaposition of its first-class production values (a good cast, great set design, marvelous photography) with Russell's no-class sexual fantasies—it's like a David Lean remake of Pink Flamingos.
- 70It is like a lunatic opera, an attempt to make a furious poem out of frenzy. Russell's flamboyant theatricality and his interest in the perverse have been too much imposed on his other films; but here, style and subject are perfectly matched. The film does not work as drama. But as a glimpse of hell it is superbly, frighteningly effective.
- 60Time OutTime OutNo matter how thickly Russell piles on the masturbating nuns, tortured priests and dissolute dauphins, there's no getting round the fact that it's all more redolent of a camp revue than a cathartic vision. Derek Jarman's sets, however, still look terrific.
- 60EmpireEmpireWhatever the moral perspective, it keeps you gripped right to the end.
- 50TV Guide MagazineTV Guide MagazineThe set design, by future director Derek Jarman, is probably the most successful element of the film.
- 40The New York TimesVincent CanbyThe New York TimesVincent CanbyIt's a see-through movie composed of a lot of clanking, silly, melodramatic effects that, like rib-tickling, exhaust you without providing particular pleasure, to say nothing of enlightenment.
- 0Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertAll the events and persons depicted in The Devils are intended to be confused with actual events and persons. How do I know? Ken Russell tells me so.