Don't Deliver Us from Evil

DON'T DELIVER US FROM EVIL (Joël Séria - France 1971).

Anne and Lore, two young convent girls become friends and decide to spend the summer together somewhere in the French countryside. However, their relationship soon takes on a much more sinister side. Influenced by their reading of forbidden books, they decide to explore the world of perversion and cruelty. They seduce a farmer but he tries to rape one of the girls after which they barely escape. They also torture a pet bird, which I found an especially cruel. The image of the owner mourning besides his dead bird is quite shattering.

Writer-director Joël Séria largely based the film on a real-life murder case, the famous Parker-Hulme murder that took place in New Zealand in 1954. Two teenage school girls, Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme, who had become obsessed with each other and with a magical "Fourth Kingdom" they had created in their minds, decided to murder Pauline's mother so that they could run away together. The case has inspired a number of books and, most famously, Peter Jackson's 1994 film HEAVENLY CREATURES.

The film was banned for blasphemy in France as it tries to flout catholicism in every way imaginable. In one particular scene, a man imposing himself as Jesus is mocked by the girls while carrying the cross and there's much more. In 1971, it was already very rare for a film to be banned on counts of blasphemy. More recently, I don't know of many films to be banned on these grounds either, but regarding the increasing Christian (and Muslim) sensibilities, a return to this kind of censorship seems almost inevitable. Most of the anti-catholic imagery will probably have little effect on most audiences now, but devout catholics will probably be gravely offended.

With its rather tasteful cinematography, relaxed pacing and well-drawn characterizations, it's more of a surreal art film than anything really exploitational. We're talking about a French film here, after all. However, many scenes, especially the rape- or near-rape scenes, will make for distinctly uncomfortable viewing and the disturbing final scene is quite shocking and came as quite a surprise to me. Although it generally comes of as the typical product of a guilt-ridden catholic (much of the film was influenced by director Joël Séria's own memories of his catholic upbringing) and the pacing was a bit slow at times, it's worth watching.

Camera Obscura --- 7/10

I don't know if I can actually add anymore to what has already been said. The film is raw and amateurish at times. It certainly is no polished piece of work. The editing is abrupt at times which to me says the editor didn't have a lot to work with.

This is not a cerebral piece of work that will linger with you for days or weeks after you've seen it. Certainly won't change your life much. However, there were moments when I felt really uneasy about what was happening on the screen. It's understandable when you are watching a scary thriller or horror flick that you might not want to watch. This isn't a scary movie. It's just disturbing. When it comes to harming animals or babies most people won't want to watch. It's a bit troubling that someone on the set didn't draw the line at some point but this was 1971.

Does the film make a point? The girls here don't have much love in their lives. All they know are rules and the adult world is ugly indeed. They create their own fantasy world but when that turns ugly there is only one way out.

Hard to recommend but there are some moments of curiosity.

I recently made a binge of DVD purchases, and among these were 6 Mondo Macabro releases I had been eyeing for some time. This is the first one I checked out, and it's a stunner - for several reasons! I had never heard of the film before its DVD announcement - but now I feel that it's been seriously neglected and, hopefully, Mondo Macabro's wonderful "Special Edition" can give this title a new lease of life.

Inspired by the same events which were eventually treated directly in Peter Jackson's HEAVENLY CREATURES (1994), the film is a perverse little item with rampant anti-Catholicism at its fore and which, unsurprisingly, was banned when it emerged; with this in mind, I love the way Mondo Macabro ended their description of it on the back cover: "It's a film that should be viewed only by those with very open minds"! Concerning two teenage girls' rebellion against their repressed upbringing by making a Satanic pact, in which they dedicate their lives to committing evil, it reminded me of other notorious "Chick Flicks" from the same era such as ALUCARDA (1975) and TO BE TWENTY (1978). The film doesn't have much of a plot and is deliberately paced, but it's held firmly together by the deliciously malevolent performances of the two leads (and particularly the untrained Jeanne Goupil, from whose viewpoint the events are related, and who subsequently hitched up with first-time director and former actor Seria!).

It seems to me that the reason the film is so obscure is that, when new, it was ahead of its time but, even now, it would be almost impossible to make (despite the ostensibly graphic nature of French cinema today) - featuring any number of shocking and potentially offensive images, which I won't spoil here for the uninitiated! Still, I have to mention the disturbing double rape inflicted - or, rather, invited - upon Catherine Wagener (though playing under-aged, the actress was actually 19 at the time) and the incredible finale, set inside a crowded school auditorium, which is sparked {sic} by the two girls' recital on stage of a strange poem by Baudelaire. The simple yet haunting music - performed on the organ or as a cantata - is highly effective, and the DVD extras (featuring, among others, separate interviews with Seria and Goupil) complement the film very nicely indeed.

Banned in France for Blasphemy back when it was made in'71 "Don't Deliver us from Evil" was a very controversial film at the time mostly because of it's unconventional plot based on two innocent looking teenage catholic school girls who devote themselves to Satan and go on very mischievous (for lack of a better term) adventures and at times sexually arousing (teasing) much older adult men which in effect works against them and we witness some very shocking scenes of sexual assault which left me wondering while watching whether this film is actually legal due to the fact the girls are playing 14 and 15 year old girls. Thankfully I learned when reading about the film afterwords that the girls are actually 19 and 20 years old in real life. The ending is truly brilliant and has to be seen to be believed! It will stay with you for quite some time. One of the things that make this such an effective film is the fact that the acting is very well done by everyone specifically the two girls playing Anne (Jeanne Goupil) and Lore (Catherine Wagner) anyone else and the results would have been much less effective IMO. Although, as notorious as this film maybe I can't say other than a few scenes I mentioned above this would be a really shocking watch to anyone who's into European exploitation films of the 70's or anyone like me who's grown up in a time of modern day horror films when pretty much everything has been done. Still, if you were to show this to the uninitiated or the religious type in theaters today you might have more than a few people walk out completely offended. Legendary DVD label Mondo Macabro released this obscure gem quite awhile ago on DVD and did a fantastic job making this film look amazing as only MM can do with very informational extra features as well. Very beautifully shot and would go great as a second feature to Valerie and Her Week of Wonders. One of my favorite movies of all time! 10/10

If you're like me and you like beauties and beautiful shots in movies like this, then you're in for a treat.

I've tended to become slightly wary of these movies, since sometimes they turn out to be kind of boring - for example much of Jess Franco's stuff. I also thought this was really strange that they would have young girls doing this and wondered what the heck it would be like. I was surprised at the level of sexuality the girls displayed at times, but for me it was a better movie for it. I think females would like this movie as well, unlike a lot of horror movies which is a genre this scarcely fits into.

It's also highly original and unique, I guess the reason it wasn't followed up by others was because it would be hard to match it. The images of it will probably stay with you for a while. I really love some of the up-close shots they gave of the girls. I think the girls complement each other really well: one is dark, the other is blonde. One is calling the shots more - as tends to happen in friendships/relationships.

There isn't a heavy plot line to it, just various things the girls go around doing. Sometimes, it can get a little boring, but the powerful musical score helps it through those parts really well. It's a good movie to watch if you have something else on your mind or are a bit tired, as it won't tax you with a mind-bending plot.