Following the decline of the Hays Code, 1970s filmmakers increasingly explored taboo subjects including sexuality, violence, and religious transgression. Ken Russell's 1971 adaptation of Aldous Huxley's historical account, 'The Devils,' exemplified this shift by depicting a convent gripped by sexual obsession and demonic possession, featuring explicit nudity and provocative religious imagery.

The British censorship board suppressed one particular sequence—colloquially known as 'The Rape of Christ'—for three decades, rendering it nearly impossible for audiences to view until its 2002 broadcast in a documentary about the film's production. Notably, many other sexually explicit scenes survived the cutting process, underscoring the arbitrary nature of institutional censorship during an era when cinema's boundaries were rapidly expanding.