May 17, 2026 9:00am PT

Blood, Blasphemy and Boning: Ken Russell’s ‘The Devils’ Turns 55, and It’s Still the Freshest, Wildest Film at Cannes

Unveiled at Cannes in a gleaming new 4K restoration ahead of a theatrical re-release in October, the late British filmmaker's extraordinary historical psychodrama feels bolder than any of the fest's newer offerings.

Guy Lodge

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Guy Lodge

Film Critic

@guylodge

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Courtesy of Warner Bros. Discovery

Typically, the Cannes Classics section is not one of the festival’s major noise-makers. Mostly comprising restorations of classic titles and new documentaries about film history, it is, for most attendees who don’t specifically work in repertory cinema, a place to take a breather, to dip into the pleasures of the old amid the whirling rush of the new, at least if your schedule permits. Rarely is a Cannes Classics screening the hot ticket of the festival. But so it was in the early days of this year’s edition, as securing a place at the Thursday night unveiling of a new 4K restoration of “The Devils” — British auteur Ken Russell‘s incendiary 1971 imagining of the 17th-century Loudun possessions — became a critical challenge.

Blood, Blasphemy and Boning: Ken Russell's 'The Devils' Turns 55, and It's Still the Freshest, Wildest Film at Cannes