Mother Joan of the Angels (1961)
"Matka Joanna od aniolów" (original title)

A priest is sent to a small parish in the Polish countryside which is believed to be under demonic possession and there he finds his own temptations awaiting.

Director:

Jerzy Kawalerowicz

Writers:

Jaroslaw Iwaszkiewicz (novel), Tadeusz Konwicki (screenplay),

Stars:

Lucyna Winnicka, Mieczyslaw Voit, Anna Ciepielewska

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Lucyna Winnicka	...	Mother Joan of the Angels
Mieczyslaw Voit	...	Father Jozef Suryn / Rabbi
Anna Ciepielewska	...	Sister Malgorzata / Margareth
Maria Chwalibóg	...	Antosia / Girl at the Inn
Kazimierz Fabisiak	...	Father Brym
Stanislaw Jasiukiewicz	...	Chrzaszczewski / Squire
Zygmunt Zintel	...	Wincenty Wolodkowicz / Innkeeper
Jerzy Kaczmarek	...	Kaziuk
Franciszek Pieczka	...	Odryn
Jaroslaw Kuszewski	...	Juraj
Lech Wojciechowski	...	Piatkowski
Marian Nosek	...	Dominican Priest
Jerzy Walden	...	Dominican Priest
Marian Nowak
Zygmunt Malawski	...	Exorcist

Storyline

Set in the 17th century. A convent in a small town is being visited by high-ranking Catholic official trying to exorcise the nun supposedly posessed by demons. A local priest have been burnt for creating this condition by sexual temptation of the nuns, especially the Mother superior who bring on the collective hysteria of the group. There is another young priest who is to help with the exorcism. His first meeting with the convent head, Mother Joanne of the Angels, has her seemingly posessed by Satan - she yells blasphemies and incites the priest. She begs the priest to save her and to help her to be a saint. To help her, he kills two innocent people to be forever a prey of the devil and thus allow her freedom.

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Plot Keywords:

priest | nun | convent | demon | demonic possession | 

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Genres:

Drama | Horror | Mystery

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Details

Country:

Poland

Language:

Polish Latin

Release Date:

9 February 1961 (Poland)

Also Known As:

Joan of the Angels?

Filming Locations:

Józefów, Lódzkie, Poland

Company Credits

Production Co:

Film Polski Film Agency, ZRF "Kadr"

Technical Specs

Runtime:

110 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Did You Know?

Quotes

Father Jozef Suryn: All redemption is in love. Love is as strong as death.

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Connections

Featured in Fejezetek a film történetéböl: A lengyel film (1990)

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Soundtracks

"Theme Music"
Performed by the Polish Radio Choirs
Conducted by Tadeusz Dobrzanski

User Reviews

Avoid this movie like the plague!

The subtitles in this movie are horrific. The translation from Polish to English is not smooth at all. The translation is somewhat similar to the terrible Chinese knockoffs that are now in circulation. It would seem that whoever translated this movie was a native Polish speaker with limited English skills. There are many grammatical mistakes in translation, problems with thought continuity, and failure to follow logical semantic sequences. The only saving grace is the cinematography, which is superb. If just for the cinematography, I would rate this movie a 10, but the translation pulls my rating down to a 4. I was tempted to give it a rating of 1, but the saving grace is the cinematography. This is one that is definitely to be avoided.