Mother Joan of the Angels 1961

In the shadowed world of a seventeenth-century convent near Smolensk, a weary traveler and priest named Father Józef Suryn, Franciszek Pieczka, rides into the region after spending a night at a roadside inn. He has been sent to investigate rumors of demonic possession at the nearby convent, a mission sparked by the village’s fear after Father Garniec was burned at the stake for allegedly tempting the nuns. The very next day, Suryn makes his way to the convent, where he meets the abbess, Mother Joan, who is reputed to be the most possessed among the nuns. Mother Joan is brought to life on screen by Lucyna Winnicka, and the inn’s crowd—curious villagers and an anxious stableman named Kaziuk—watch with bated breath as four priests before Suryn have already failed to drive out the spirits. The inn’s lone non-possessed nun, Sister Małgorzata, also known to the locals, offers stories to the priest during her nightly visits, providing the first clues about the convent’s troubled history. Sister Małgorzata is portrayed by Anna Ciepielewska.

As Suryn begins the arduous exorcism, eight demons are said to inhabit Mother Joan, and the ritual draws help from a cadre of exorcists, including the presence of the Exorcist depicted by Zygmunt Malawski. For a time, the abbess and the other nuns appear freed as the demonic force seems to retreat, and the parish sees a fragile calm. Yet the peace proves to be temporary, and the darkness returns with a renewed force that unsettles everyone at the inn and in the convent. The abbess’s seduction becomes a stark temptation, as Mother Joan pleads with Suryn to grant her sainthood, revealing that the struggle between faith and desire is far from over.

Meanwhile, Sister Małgorzata leaves the cloister and takes on a different name—Margareth—after falling in love with Chrząszczewski, a dashing squire who visits the inn. The arc of Margareth’s transformation underscores the complex pull between the sacred and the earthly, a tension that threads through the entire tale. Chrząszczewski is brought to life by [Stanisław Jasiukiewicz], giving a human face to the conflicts that ripple through the characters’ choices.

A crucial turn arrives when a failed encounter with a local rabbi unsettles Suryn, pushing him back into the convent’s orbit. The rabbi’s presence underscores the world’s broader tensions, but it is Suryn’s return to the abbey that proves decisive. In a moment that blurs the line between salvation and damnation, Suryn accepts Mother Joan’s demons by surrendering to a love that seems to demand the darkest of bargains, a choice that weighs heavily on his conscience and the fate of all connected to the convent. The rabbi’s influence is mediated through the priest, who, in a controversial act in the name of love, seizes an axe and strikes down Kaziuk, the steadfast stableman, and Juraj, a companion of the inn. The two men fall to the ground as Suryn’s inner struggle erupts into outward violence, and the bloodied weapon marks a turning point in the narrative.

The following morning reveals the consequences of this grim act. Margareth discovers Suryn with the axe in hand, and he urges her to go to Mother Joan and tell her of the sacrifice he has made for her salvation. Margareth races back to the convent and, upon reuniting with Mother Joan, the two women share a quiet, sorrowful moment that speaks more than words could—that their paths have forever braided together in this dark, unspoken crucible. The story closes with a charged stillness, as the characters confront the limits of mercy, the danger of love, and the heavy price paid when faith and flesh collide within the walls of the convent.