The Devil (1972)

Zulawski's second feature, The Devil, is a histrionic nightmare. Set in 18th century Poland during the destruction of the nation at the hands of outside forces, a young nobleman condemned to death for attempting to assassinate the king is freed by a man in black and along with an insane and sexy nun is sent back home to enact the "cleansing". Most of the movie features actors wandering around, twitching, screaming, fighting, fucking one another. There is not really a plot per se, more scenes of escalating madness and violence. We have here a potpori of the usual "shocking" things: incest, rape, homosexuality, slit throats, and so on. To be honest, I am not sure exactly what the point of all this was. It has something to do with politics and the death of the old order at the hands of the old order, but it really resembles a slapstick comedy shot with blood than anything else. It is a ravishing experience, but I have yet to see another film by Zulawski that reaches the emotionally harrowing heights of Possession. There is a lot of outwardly shocking content, but none of it is particularly disturbing because it all hits you at face value. It is very much like a cartoon, and that approach can work, but it needs to have more substance underneath it. Out of the two Zulawski movies I watched today, I preferred The Third Part of the Night, because it felt more well-constructed, there was more nuance. I will say this, though, I am head over heels in love with these doe-eyed Polish girls.