The Devils of Loudun is not for the faint-hearted. The real-life conspiracy to destroy the libertine priest Urbain Grandier in 1634 remains one of the darkest chapters in French ecclesiastical history. Grandier’s pride, political involvements and debauchery had made him enemies locally and at court who united in a fantastical piece of opportunism to kill him, the catalyst being the obsessive desire of the hunchback Ursuline prioress, Sister Jeanne des Anges, for Grandier who had – in all innocence – spurned her. More by accident than design, the notion that she had been possessed by a demon with Grandier the controlling sorcerer was put forth and escalated into a scandalous freak-show of hysterical nuns and public exorcisms attracting large and distinguished audiences until its outrageous momentum prevented the lie at its heart from being exposed.

Penderecki came to the subject via a German translation of John Whiting’s play (based on the Huxley book), which centred on the “relationship” between Jeanne and Grandier, who never actually met until Grandier’s procession around Loudun before his execution. The powerful score was unfairly criticised in some corners as being a re-hash of the Dies irae and St Luke Passion but his avant-garde style had by that time become less experimental for its own sake and truly a personal language, which is perhaps what some critics sensed. In some ways The Devils of Loudun is the pinnacle of his early output rather than the better-known Passion

ArtHaus’s carefully restored film is of a studio production of the opera, based on the Hamburg State Opera’s premiere production. Imaginatively shot, it captures the fevered atmosphere of the little town, caught in the crossfire of national politics and petty jealousies. Troyanos’s wide-eyed Jeanne (in truth, a most unsympathetic character) is suitably unhinged but Hiolski is the star of the show as the vain, lustful Grandier. He catches his sleazy side very well but it is his nobility under duress during the trial and execution that is truly moving. Supported by a fine cast (with Melchert particularly chilling as Richelieu’s agent, Laubardemont) and accompanied splendidly by the Hamburg State Opera Orchestra under Marek Janowski, this is a fine record of a graphic, disturbing and deeply moving production.