Original subtitles

Mother Joan Of The Angels

Bells

Why are they ringing?

That's the custom here. For lost travellers

Bishop's orders

For people lost in the forest

It is dangerous to be in the forest

- What's your name? - Juray

Going back tomorrow?

Yes. The monks want me

- Are you far from here? - A whole day's journey

What thin slices you are cutting, Father

That way, you won't even know you're eating bread

That's how we always cut bread at the monastery

Why?

Why?

It's greed and gluttony to devour large pieces

As I am a Wolodkowicz

You must be an extraordinary glutton, Father

May God repay you

How about telling the Father's fortune, Awdosia?

Why not? Priests too have fortunes

Many a maiden or woman...

...seeks her advice before entering a convent

He'd like to...

He'd like to see his future too but he can't

Tell him something about it

- What should I tell him? - Everything

Whether his journey will be successful...

...and who he'll meet

He'll meet a maid who will be a mother

That's common enough in Poland

You poor, poor lamb

Poor, poor lamb

You'll love a crooked one

Blessed be the Lord

For ever and ever

The holy maids are waiting for you, Father

And very impatient they are too

But no one knew I was coming

They know everything

But they tell lies sometimes

So you too have to come to see the holy maids, Father?

Do you know what's going on there?

What kind of holy maids they are?

Don't say such things

Leave it to the theologians. You just pray and be silent

Sister Porteress even left the gate open last night...

...for the priest who is to save them

How do you know what's going on in the convent?

I do odd jobs there

Are men allowed in there?

What good is a woman at chopping up big logs?

Or slaughtering a bull or a ram?

Surely the sisters do not eat meat

They do. They say the devil tempts them

Guard us from malice, oh Lord!

I do believe in our Holy Catholic Church...

...as I'm a Wolodkowicz

There's a village, Father...

...where everyone's a Wolodkowicz

The soil is poor there. We grow just flax and oats

The apples are sour. The flax is knotty, full of weeds

But the booze is as strong as anywhere

Your health...

...Canon

- I'm not a Canon - Then you will be

- To your heath - To your health

It's time

I must go

You go to sleep, Juray

Get up early

Father Provincial wants you back at once

Kaziuk

I must go to the convent

- Kaziuk will accompany you, Father - May God repay you

Blessed be the Lord

For ever and ever

- He did have some vodka - Not such a saint after all

They're all alike. All of them

Do your holy maids eat pork like us?

What for? They have another kind of life

Don't talk so much. You'll bring some mischief on us

In an evil hour

As I'm a Wolodkowicz, tell us what's going on in that convent?

Are the devils at large among the holy maids?

Stop that, sir

It's no joking matter

People are spying on each other

And reporting to the priests

Are there many priests in the convent?

Four. To do the exorcising. This one's the fifth

In Father Garniec's case...

...there were 12 of them who sentenced him to the stake

They had no reason to burn Father Garniec

How about the holy maids? Still dancing?

They're up to some better tricks

Is it true that Father Garniec was a sorcerer?

Are you really sorry for him?

Not sorry but it's a pity just the same

Even if he were the worst

What kind of man was he?

He was no saint

And he sizzled on the stake like a pig

How can they burn a man like that?

Go on, eat

How did they do it?

They just dragged him to the stake?

Did they take his clothes off?

The clothes catch fire first

So the man is left naked

Father Joseph

Welcome, Father Joseph

I'm Father Brym's housekeeper

Splendid, Krysia. Now leave me alone with our guest

A priest is no guest

No. Go and play, children

Kaziuk

Poor lambs. They're my only comfort

- Orphans? - Their mother is alive

Their father was burnt

They're Garniec's children

What future can they hope for?

The children of a priest and a sorcerer

Do you believe he had bad intentions?

I may doubt his sorcery but not his bad intentions

Did Satan get into him?

You'll have a hard task here, Father

I fasted and mortified myself the whole autumn

I prayed and keep praying. Yet I'm afraid of him

- Of whom? - The Evil One

I never set foot in the convent

I have my parish and church

Father Garniec also kept away but the women...

...I mean the nuns, were his undoing

True, he was young and handsome

While I'm old I won't come to Mother Joan of the Angels in her dreams

Did Father Garniec come to her?

He apparently came right through the convent walls

That's just the womers tales

You think so?

I do, but that's between us

The nuns wanted Father Garniec to come to them

These maids or the demons in them...

...tell such things at the top of their voices, in public

Saying where the devils sit in them

In church too. During exorcising

Such a shame. In church?

Tell this to the exorcising priests

They say if the people see the devil...

...their faith in God and the Church grows

That's why they show such things to the people

Like tricks at a fair

Can you bring God to a man through the devil?

Who knows, Father

It may not be such a bad way

Maybe saints are made that way

Unless...

Unless there are no devils in there at all

Every woman is naturally inclined to fall

And to be a saint

It's enough to look at the world

I don't know the world

I couldn't say

My mother became a Carmelite. My sisters were nuns

I grew up among women who were almost saints

It is well, dear Father, that you're pious...

...and that you don't know women

I fear you'll have some hard moments here

Pray for me, Father

What's won'th the prayer of a sinner?

But pray I shall

Give me your blessing, Father

Come on, children. Let's go home

I'll see you to the convent, Father

Don't bother

It's more dignified for a priest that way

- I don't care - But we do

I'll always accompany you, Father. We're good people

- All of you? - Perhaps not all

Who knows before evening what the day will bring?

Here we are

One of the sisters will open the gate

Sister Margaret

Mother Superior's been expecting you since yesterday

Welcome, Father. It's good to see you

We've been longing for your help

Our common prayers will help us

Wort you sit down, Father?

For months we've been beset by great miseries

The priests who are staying with us...

...have no power over them

Our only hope is in you, Father

I've been sent to take care only of you

The other priests will look after the sisters

If the spirits leave me, they will leave the sisters too

It all started with me

I'll try to free you from your demon

Eight of them!

Behemoth, Balaam, Isacaaron...

...Gresil, Aman, Asmodeus, Leviathan and Dog's Tail

Do not listen to them, my daughter. Evil has many shapes and faces

How long is it since you've been to confession?

Since we were first possessed, half a year ago

That's a long time. Why did you put off penance?

We didn't

The demons keep us away from the holy sacraments

The demons keep you away?

Hasrt perhaps your spiritual laziness...

...taken the shape of those demons?

You don't believe I'm possessed, Father?

I have to, my child, though unwillingly

Satan enters our souls in many ways

Oh, he's very powerful

We know little about the nature of demons

And what they make the possessed say is not to be trusted

You know they're the sons of falsehood

What is falsehood, Reverend Father? And what is truth?

Every Christiars conscience...

...should tell him the difference between black and white

Was it evil that Father Garniec perished because of me?

Ask your conscience

If I told you what horrors this man did to me

What abominable things!

I will tell you. I must

You have to know my inner life...

...all my torments, past and present...

...if you're to save me from the pit of solitude where God has cast me

Calm yourself, my daughter

No one is alone on earth. No one

I saw him by my bedside

My Guardian Angel

He looked like Kaziuk from the inn

But he had such long hair, down to his shoulders

He bent over me and touched my breast

There were five drops of fragrant balm on my gown

Forgive me. I've no one to tell of my misery and horror

Defend me

Defend me, Reverend Father

All right

Go to your duties, my daughter. I'll pray here

Then we'll think of our sins and failings

Don't think it will be so easy...

...to drive me out of this sweet body

- Mother Joan! - I'm not Mother Joan

I'm no one

Don't think we're afraid of your Latin

You filthy priest!

What is happening to you?

May God be blessed, Sister Margaret

- For ever and ever - I thought you werert coming today

There's so much work with those exorcisms

The nuns pray while you do all the work

I'm out of breath

I like it here

It's nicer among people

I'm very happy to see a representative of the famous convent

You must have some exciting tales to tell

What can I tell? You come from the great world

But for you and your convent...

...we wouldn't be here at all

The exorcisms brought us here

The demons leave me alone

I seem to have a hard soul and an undesirable body

The new priest will do some real exorcising

He's too weak for our convent

He was as pale as death after talking to Mother Superior

And she only did the trick with the sooty door handle

Does Mother Joan cheat?

No. It's the devil who tells her to blacken the handle every morning

- That's not cheating - She mustrt cheat

She mustrt cheat. It has to be real!

We should have gone to the fair to see the tightrope walkers

I don't like these fiendish nuns

A pity the demons don't lift their skirts

Sometimes they take off their clothes

Before Father Garniec was burnt...

...they used to run naked in the garden and call him

Let's teach the nun to drink

Let's go

Sister, as I am a Wolodkowicz

Have a glass of mead, Sister

- Gracious, you're just like Tartars - Take your chance, Sister

- No - You have to sin at least once

- Drink, Sister, drink - Dear God, what a brute

- Here's to the convent - And to Mother Joan

Oh, my dear, dear mother I would take the veil, please

Rather than a husband, who would be a brute, please

Rather than a lover with a stick to beat me

Rather than a thrashing I would take the veil, please

I would rather sing with the nuns in the convent

Than take me a husband and much trouble with it

I would not mind singing Matins at cold daybreak

If this could but save me from a husband's beatings

Father Joseph is coming

What are you doing here, my daughter?

I only came to see this woman

Go and sin no more

The devil is there and here too

That's how it is in this world

What do you know of the world?

- Do you, Father? - Not much either

I have spent all my life in a monastery

Watch your step, Kaziuk

To hell with this axe

I know how you abhor my coming to fight you

Here is your kingdom but I've been sent in the name of God

I belong to another kingdom, the Kingdom of Light

As you to the Kingdom of Darkness

I belong to Good and you to Evil

Kaziuk

- Do you believe in the devil? - I do

- Have you seen him? - I have

- With horns? - Stupid

With wings

And with Mother Superior's face

- What did he look like? - Don't be so curious

Tell me

I've never seen the devil

Nor have I

I didn't see him properly

But I saw him torment the sisters

Particularly our Superior

Mother Joan of the Angels

- Is that what she's called? - Yes

Mother Joan of the Angels

She ought to be called Mother of the Devils

It's awful to be alone in the world

What if the devil gets into me?

Devils don't care for the likes of us

You're only saying so

Sometimes I hate my dad so much I could kill him

And if you kill your dad, the devil will never let you go

Why kill your dad? He'll die some day anyway

If he dies, he dies

But before he dies he'll go on being bad

He beats Mother and me too

Pray for him

To hell with him

Say, "In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit

"God, guard my father"

That I can say. God guard my father

Now go to sleep

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit

I am asleep

Good night

Satan!

I order thee to leave the body...

...of the most reverend Mother Joan of the Angels

Leave her!

Leave her, Satan!

I won't! Whatever you do

I won't. I don't want to. I don't want to

Balaam, Isacaaron, Asmodeus...

...Gresil, Aman, Leviathan

Speak, which of you is it?

It's Dog's Tail, at your service

Answer me, Dog's Tail

Wilt thou leave the body of this woman if I order thee?

I will at once but what about my brothers?

Balaam is in my head, Gresil in my belly...

...and Asmodeus...

Satan, I order thee to leave her!

Dog's Tail has left me

I'm not Mother Joan

I'm Satan! My name is Gresil

Gresil. Satan

Thou didst not enter this woman against God's will

Thou owest obedience to those who speak in God's name

Wilt thou be obedient?

I will

Show us, Evil Spirit, how Seraphs worship the Lord of Hosts

How do Seraphs worship the Lord of Hosts?

Gresil...

Now show us how kings praise the Almighty

I order thee in the name of God...

...to pay homage to the sign of our salvation

Don't order him to do it, Father. He'll torment me

Pay homage, I order thee!

No, I won't!

I won't pay homage

No earthly or heavenly power can force me to do that

Humble thyself!

No. No!

Accursed be God the Father and the Son and the Ghost...

...and the Blessed Virgin and all Heaven!

Oh, Holy Cross. Oh, Holy Virgin

Forgive me all my blasphemies

Oh, God!

Oh, Lord, defend me from Satan

- Sister - You frightened me again

- No more exorcising in church? - There will be more

But Mother Superior is to be kept in solitude

In solitude

Kneel down, Mother Joan

Kneel down, my daughter

Let us pray together

I'll say the prayers...

...and you try to communicate with me in the spirit

May peace come upon you

Love drives Evil away

Fill yourself with love

Is it possible not to give love for love?

Our Father who art in Heaven

Hosanna

We cleaned up the place nicely...

...but the pigeons are a nuisance

Tell Odrym to patch up the holes in the roof

Yes, Mother Joan

There are so many of those sweet birds

No one will disturb you here

Thank you, Sister

In solitude you may get rid of your pride

Your greatest sin

Mother Joan, when you're among people...

...you only think of your superiority

Who am I but a poor servant of the Lord...

...who worships Him in a remote convent?

I'm only a nun

What if my father is a prince of an impoverished branch?

He sits in his Smolensk marshes. No one knows him

Is it my fault that I'm possessed by eight powerful demons?

Be good like a child. Be happy like a child

God loves us very much

What if Satan leaves me and takes possession of you?

God have mercy upon my sinful soul

There's no truth on earth

You utter words of despair again

After so many days of prayer, so many nights of humility

Don't!

The devils are rising up in me again

You yourself are becoming a devil

Let go. Let go!

Father

- God be with you - Father Joseph is out

I've come to see you

You have no idea what's going on in the convent

No one is to move a step outside the gate

They're making bars for Father Joseph

Mother Joars been worse than ever

It looks as bad as with Father Garniec

Shut up!

It may be an evil hour

The squire too keeps coming back to our muddy village

They say he's borrowing money from local Jews

Stupid

Squires don't do such things

You know nothing about it

Don't I? When it started with Father Garniec...

You must be surprised to see me back

But something drives me here

Are you so curious about the convent?

It's here, Father

What's the good of my coming here?

Who knows? He's a wise man

He always says, "Don't ask for trouble

"It comes uninvited"

Please, come in

The rabbi is expecting you

You must be surprised

Not at all. I've been expecting to see one of you here

- You know? - I do

What are they?

A priest asking a poor rabbi...

...what demons are?

Don't you know?

Maybe the trouble is not demons but the absence of angels

Mother Joars angel has gone and now she's alone with herself

Maybe it's only human nature

Stop this mockery, Jew

You sit over your books by candlelight...

...and you don't care that people suffer

That women...

Do women suffer? Let them. That's their fate

No one can escape his fate

What do you know of demons?

Sit down, priest

Say, what's an evil spirit, where does he abide?

What is he, where does he come from?

Who made him? Adonai?

God. Who else could have made him?

What if Satan created the world?

Enough!

For if the Lord created it...

...why is there so much evil in it?

Death and sickness and wars

Why are we Jews being persecuted?

Why are our sons being slaughtered?

Our daughters raped?

- Original sin - Original sin

The fall of the first parents?

How many times did man fall and rise?

How many times has patient Abel been killed by Cain?

All the evil man commits...

...is no measure of the evil that torments him

The fall of the first man, the fall of the first angel

Why did angels come down from heaven...

...to beget giants on earthly women?

Tell me why, Father?

Angels...

...are mysterious beings

Your Mother Joan calls herself 'of the Angels'

But what does she know of angels?

What are angels, Priest?

God sends them

And who sends the devil?

Unless God wills it, Satan cannot possess a mars soul

When can he possess it?

When man loves him very much

Can man love Satan?

Love is at the root of everything on Earth

We had a young squire here who loved a Jewish girl so much...

...that when he died he took possession of her soul

She was brought here and stood where you stand

And I called on this spirit to leave her

Did he?

He would not be driven out

You see!

He said to me he would not leave her

He took her soul

And she died

Love is as strong as death

I shall learn nothing from you

You'd like to learn everything at once

What my great grandfather taught...

...and his great grandfather

All that was written in the scrolls, in the Zohar and the Temureh

You want me to give it to you in three words

Just like some business receipt

One, two, three, then done?

You want to hear about all demons created by eternal Adonai?

And those born of countless angels and earthly women?

Those that have risen in you...

...to obscure your reason...

...and to take away your wisdom

And those that are now in your heart

You want to know all about demons?

Let them enter your soul

My demons are my business and my soul is my own

You are me and I am you

Oh, God. What are you saying?

You know nothing, Priest. You walk in darkness

Your ignorance is like the black cloak of night

I can teach you nothing. My teachings are not your teachings

You are me

Be gone!

Be gone

I too know nothing. Nothing at all

Sister, tell Mother Superior to come to the attic

- To the attic? - Tell her there will be no exorcisms

Thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth...

...and called thee from the chief men thereof

I have chosen thee and not cast thee away

Fear thou not for I am with thee

- Why have you called me? - I desire your salvation

Where is salvation?

It's so difficult for me to speak my heart

Speak, I'll take it upon myself

I shall absorb your sins

The most terrible thing is that I like Satan

It gives me joy being possessed

I'm proud this fate has befallen me

That the demons torment me more than the others

You commit the sin of pride again. Pray for your humility

- I am lost - I too thought I was lost

But now I don't believe it. I am strong, powerful

Mother Joan, I shall lead you

Where to? What way are you showing me?

You only want me to be calm, colourless, small

To be just like any ordinary nun

All right. Listen

I myself open my soul to the demons

But you want me to be like the thousands...

...who have no aim on earth

You want to see me at prayer all day long

To see me eating beans every day

Do you promise me salvation for this?

I do not want such salvation

If one can't be a saint, it's better to be damned

Oh, if only you could make me a saint. I want nothing else

Do you know what it means to understand everything?

It means to be one with light eternal and yet remain on Earth

To stand on altars with candles and incense

To return in prayer to all lips

Oh, that is life

That is life eternal

If not...

If not...

I'd rather be with the devils

Joan, calm yourself

Calm yourself

All redemption is in love

Love is as strong as death

Make a saint of me

That I cannot do

- Don't crush the grain - I'm scaring off the wolves

Wolves, right

Why is the child crying?

She's wet herself, Father

Take her to the kitchen or she'll catch a cold

And you wanted to scare off the wolves

Good

Well, yes

I think I'm being tempted to this sweet beer...

...by some lesser demon

For if evil exists, it can be great and small

The great devil is called Behemoth

And the small one, Beer, perhaps

Yes

Go home, Father Joseph. Go at once

The journey will calm you

You'll go back to your cell, see your books...

...and the demons may leave your body and soul

No, no!

I don't want them to. Let him stay in me

He is me and I am him

The devil who possessed her soul and body

Bells

For those who are lost

You can hear them far away

I like these bells

They ring every day

It's terrible in the forest, isn't it?

The wolves howl

The Evil One is at work

So?

She has changed already

Remember, we leave before dawn

Hold it

Hold it

Stop

Oh, my dear, dear mother I would take the veil, please

Rather than a husband who would be a brute, please

Rather than a lover with a stick to beat me

Rather than a thrashing I would take the veil, please

I would rather sing much with the nuns in the convent

Than take me a husband and much trouble with it

Why have you stopped singing?

Go on dancing and enjoying yourselves. God will forgive you

For you know not what you do

Man is a queer fish

What will become of your Mother Joan?

She'll stay a nun

And the devil?

The devil will always find work

The devils left Mother Joan and possessed Father Joseph

Sister Margaret too it seems

Has the squire come for her?

He's possessed too. She's so ugly

I like her

She's big

What about your dad?

Drinking and beating

- Do you pray for him? - No

Pray with me

Say, God guard my father

I don't mind if I do

- God, guard my father - And everybody

And everybody

Now go to sleep

Good night

Good night

You've come so soon

So soon

Go away!

Don't torment me

Stay!

I know that if you leave me you'll go back to Mother Joan

Don't go!

Let her be free. Let her be a saint

Take me

And don't ever go back to Mother Joan

Don't ever leave me!

What must I do?

No! Don't order me to do that

Stay!

Yes, I remember where the axe is

I remember

The stable smells of blood, Squire

Don't talk nonsense

- The horses sense something - Mount!

- And the lady? - Come on!

The squire's gone

The squire has deserted me

It's all your fault. You talked me into sin

Sister Margaret!

The squire has deserted me

You, son of the devil, to hell with you

Kaziuk!

The grooms have been killed

Kaziuk and the others have been murdered

Killed

I'll call the priest. Father Joseph

Father Joseph!

They were innocent

They went to heaven

Father Joseph

Oh, God. Now I'm in Satars power for ever

Father Joseph, the squire has deserted me

- Go back - No

I won't go back to the convent

I can't

I do not want to

Go and tell Joan I did it for her

For her good. To save her

To keep the devils in me. They wanted to go back to her

Tell her. Don't forget

Tell her

I did it out of love