Mother Joan of the Angels Matka Joanna od Aniolow 2006 Horror Movie Review

MOTHER JOAN OF THE ANGELS is a neglected masterpiece of the Polish cinema. Based on the same historical events that inspired Aldous Huxley’s novel THE DEVILS OF LOUDON and Ken Russell’s film THE DEVILS, MOTHER JOAN OF THE ANGELS is a disturbing exploration of faith, repression, fanaticism, and desire by acclaimed Polish director Jerzy Kawalerowicz (AUSTERIA, QUO VADIS?). In a remote convent on the barren plains of 17th-century Poland, a young priest arrives to exorcize the demons from a group of possessed Ursuline nuns. When he meets the beautiful head of the convent, her blasphemies against the church both repel and excite him, with tragic consequences. Veteran director Kawalerowicz was a colleague of Andrezj Wajda and the longtime head of Poland’s prestigious Kadr film studio.