The Devils: how Ken Russell’s masterpiece emerged from purgatory

The story takes place in France in 1634, the film was directed by an Englishman in 1971… What if Les Diables was despite everything one of the films that has the most things to say about 2026? This is Warner’s bet, which is resurrecting Ken Russell’s provocative masterpiece in its previously unpublished extended version. And made this restoration a last stand, at the time of its acquisition by Paramount.

The trailer is an electric shock. “I had a vision”says a nun facing the camera. Then the images begin to rush towards us in a stroboscopic whirlwind, boosted by a menacing electro roar: flames, crucifixes, cries of ecstasy and agony, hallucinated faces, cassocks stained with blood… It looks like a clip made by a very angry Gaspar Noé, or the new coquetry elevated horror from studio A24. The tease is perfect, super exciting, the likes are piling up on Instagram and YouTube, the images are so polished that you would swear they had just been filmed…