Ken Russell’s “The Devils” Returns in Restored Director’s Cut at Cannes

Ken Russell’s 1971 film *The Devils*—an adaptation of Aldous Huxley’s 1952 novel *The Devils of Loudun*—has long been defined by the cuts imposed on it. In the United Kingdom the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) limited the film to an X-rated version that omitted material the director regretted. In the United States the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) required a severely truncated R-rated cut, and the original 35 mm prints were physically altered to match the American version. One notorious sequence, featuring “supposedly possessed nuns” cavorting naked with an effigy of Christ, was believed lost after the editing machine, leaving only a single still photograph.

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• Ken Russell – Director of *The Devils* (deceased 2011).

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• Aldous Huxley – Author of the source novel.

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• Mark Kermode – British film historian who introduced the restored cut at Cannes.

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• Lisi Russell – Russell’s widow, present at the screening.

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• Christian Parkes & Spencer Collantes – Executives at Clockwork, the company that spearheaded the restoration.

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• Mike De Luca & Pam Abdy – Warner Bros. executives who approved the archival project.

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• Warner Bros. – Rights holder that facilitated access to the film’s library.

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• Peter Jackson – Guest filmmaker at the Cannes event.

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• 1971 – Original theatrical release of *The Devils*.

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• 2004 – Russell viewed a DigiBeta version of his Director’s Cut at the NFT in London.

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• January 2024 – Clockwork’s Christian Parkes and Spencer Collantes met Mark Kermode in Berlin to discuss the project.

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• April 2026 – Ticketing for the Cannes screening opened at 8 a.m.; all 452 seats sold out in under 60 seconds.

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• May 2026 – World premiere of the restored Director’s Cut at Cannes’ Salle Buñuel.

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• June 20-28 2026 – Additional screenings at Il Cinema Ritrovato in Bologna.

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Four days before its world premiere, the restored Director’s Cut sold out the 452-seat Salle Buñuel in less than a minute, underscoring the film’s enduring demand 55 years after its debut. The event featured a panel of critics, Peter Jackson, and a live introduction by Mark Kermode, who highlighted the rarity of the recovered footage and the collaborative effort that made the restoration possible.

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• Seats sold: 452 (full house).

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• Time to sell out: < 60 seconds.

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• Years since original release: 55.

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The restoration reverses decades of censorship, re-exposes audiences to Russell’s intended narrative rhythm, and demonstrates the value of archival initiatives in rescuing suppressed works. Clockwork’s stated mission—to “pull out…films that perhaps weren’t judged correctly at the time”—positions the project as a model for future restorations.

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Warner Bros. executives Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy affirmed the company’s willingness to grant Clockwork access to the archives, noting the “opportunity now to introduce them to new audiences in new and fresh ways.” Clockwork co-founder Christian Parkes described the venture as a “mission to support great films and great filmmakers,” emphasizing the collaborative approval from the archive team.

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The BBFC’s X-rating and the MPAA’s R-rating historically limited the film’s distribution, removing scenes that Russell deemed essential to the work’s thematic rhythm. Those cuts resulted in a fragmented viewing experience that critics and scholars have long decried.

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While Kermode recounted that the missing “nuns” sequence was once thought lost—“the last time I remember seeing it…then it was gone”—the exact provenance of the recovered footage remains undisclosed. A forthcoming piece will detail how the material was located and restored.

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• “I’ve got my rhythm back.” — Ken Russell (as recalled by Lisi Russell)

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• “ Said Kermode, “The great thing for me about the screening in Cannes was Lisi being there, because, honestly, I thought this was never going to happen.” — Mark Kermode

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• “The short version of this story,” said Kermode, “is that Ken ended up with the British X-rated version, which was, for as long as anyone can remember, the definitive version of The Devils, but was missing stuff that Ken had always regretted.” — Mark Kermode

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• “’ He said, ‘Literally, the last time I remember seeing it was in a roll of film, and it was sitting next to the editing machine — and then it was gone.” — Ken Russell (quoted by Kermode)

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• “One of the things we said was, ‘If our remit — if our motivation — is to support great films and great filmmakers, could we go back into the archives, and into the library, and pull out some of those films out that perhaps weren’t judged correctly at the time?” — Christian Parkes

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Following the Cannes debut, *The Devils* will screen at Il Cinema Ritrovato from June 20-28, 2026. A detailed report on the discovery and restoration of the missing footage is slated for release later in 2026.

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