The film was controversial upon release due to its depiction of adolescent crime and sexuality,[4] receiving an X rating in the United Kingdom and being banned in its native France.

Anne de Boissy and Lore Fournier are two adolescent girls at a Catholic boarding school, both from affluent and conservative families living near each other in the countryside.

Exclusive friends, they read poems about the beauty of death and engage in malicious pranks and petty theft, believing not only that church is downright fatuous but that they are special and untouchable.

After stealing hosts and vestments from the church, the girls prepare an abandoned chapel for a Black Mass in which they wed themselves to Satan, promising more wicked works in his name, and mingle their blood to seal their bond.

[4][6] Despite significant cuts, the film was banned in its native France by the Ministry of Cultural Affairs,[4][7][8] who issued the statement: The theme, extremely daring in itself, has been exploited to the full and gives rise to a work that the Commission considers as one of the most unhealthy that it has had to examine, on account of the perversion, the sadism and the seeds of moral and mental destruction that are contained therein.

"[10] Patrick Gibbs of The Daily Telegraph addressed the film's controversial content, but added that, "artistically, it's beautifully done, with just the right touch of fantasy, and, as things go in the cinema these days, it's not only moral in conclusion but, I think, generally inoffensive.