Mother Joan of the Angels

Father Józef Suryn arrives at a small inn in Smolensk to rest for the night and prepare for his mission. Local gossip centers on a case of demonic possession at the nearby convent and the priest who was burned at the stake for tempting the nuns. Suryn accepts the assignment to travel to the convent and confront the haunting head-on.

Early the next day, Suryn sets out toward the convent to investigate the case firsthand. Curious villagers tail behind, sharing rumors about the abbey's troubled past. As he approaches the convent, the weight of the work ahead becomes clear.

At the convent, Suryn meets Mother Joan, described as the most possessed of all the nuns. He learns that she is believed to be inhabited by eight demons. The atmosphere inside the chapel is thick with fear, faith, and the sounds of whispered prayer.

Suryn and several other priests begin an exorcism under the abbess's watchful gaze. Four priests before him have tried and failed, intensifying the danger of the rite. The ritual is draining, with the demon's voice piercing the walls and the nuns reacting in terror.

After the exorcism, Mother Joan and the other nuns appear cured and the convent seems at peace. The villagers celebrate the apparent victory, but the air remains uneasy. Soon after, however, the possession intensifies again, proving the evil has not been banished.

The possession returns with renewed force, and Mother Joan tries to seduce Father Suryn, begging him to make her a saint through his love. He struggles with the dangerous pull of desire amid a spiritual crisis that threatens his vocation. Meanwhile, Sister Małgorzata abandons the convent and becomes Margareth, a woman who falls for Chrząszczewski, a squire visiting the inn.

A planned meeting between Suryn and the local rabbi ends in failure, leaving unresolved tensions about how to handle the demonic crisis. He returns to confront the convent with a renewed, troubled resolve. The rift between belief systems deepens as the demons grow stronger within the abbess.

Back inside the convent, Suryn re-enters and experiences the demons again through his love for Mother Joan. The line between salvation and damnation becomes dangerously blurred as the exorcism's control slips away. The tragedy unfolds as the abbey's crisis reaches a breaking point.

During the night, Suryn seizes an axe and kills Kaziuk and Juraj, two local stablemen, believing the act to be a sacrifice needed to save the abbess. The murder marks a drastic and morally ambiguous turn in the exorcism narrative. The inn and village awaken to terror and confusion.

The next morning, Margareth is abandoned by Chrząszczewski and encounters Father Suryn with the bloodied axe in his hands. He instructs her to go to Mother Joan and tell her of the sacrifice he has made in the name of love. Margareth takes on the burden of the revelation as she moves toward the convent.

Margareth runs back to the convent and cries with Mother Joan, though neither speaks a word. The moment is heavy with unspoken history and an ending that feels unfinished. The abbey remains in a tense balance between mercy, murder, and salvation.