MOTHER JOAN OF THE ANGELS 1961 Jerzy Kawalerowicz GERMAN POSTER

Original German 23 inch x 33 inch Poster for the 1961 Jerzy Kawalerowicz Polish Horror Mystery MOTHER JOAN OF THE ANGELS (MATKA JOANNA OD ANIOLOW), based on the novella by Jaroslaw Iwaszkiewicz and starring Lucyna Winnicka, Mieczyslaw Voit and Anna Ciepielewska.

This film is very loosely based on the real life outbreak of mass hysteria in the French town of Loudun in 1634 that occurred when a convent of Ursuline nuns, led by the hunchbacked Sister Jeanne of the Angels, became obsessed with a handsome, womanising priest, Urbain Grandier. When Grandier turned down the nun's invitation to become their spiritual director, Jeanne, in a jealous rage, accused Grandier of using black magic to seduce her and her sisters and possess them with devils. Grandier's enemies, including Cardinal Richelieu, used the accusation as an excuse to have him found guilty of witchcraft and executed.
Unlike Ken Russell's The Devils (1971), which depicts Grandier's trial and death, Mother Joan of the Angels instead depicts the events after his death. The nuns continued to be possessed for four years after his death, and further exorcisms were carried out by the sincere and deeply spiritual Father Joseph Suryn whose main concern was helping Sister Jeanne.

Poster art by Ferry Ahrle (1924 - 2018). German painter, graphic artist and author.

The poster is in fine folded condition.