Stigmata
by Rupert Wainwright
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VHS Tape Cover Information
Actor: Gabriel Byrne, Jonathan Pryce, Nia Long, Patricia Arquette, Thomas KopacheDirector: Rupert Wainwright
Cinematographer: Jeffrey L. Kimball
Editor: Michael J. Duthie
Editor: Michael R. Miller
Producer: Frank Mancuso Jr.
Producer: Vikki Williams
Writer: Rick Ramage
Writer: Tom Lazarus
Edition: VHS Tape
Audio: English (Original Language), Analog; Italian (Original Language); Portuguese (Original Language)
Format: Color, NTSC
Running Time: 103 minutes
Release Date: 2001-07-23
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Publisher: MGM (Video & DVD)
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
VHS Movie Reviews of Stigmata
Movie Review: Excellent Acting
Summary: 4 Stars
I give STIGMATA 4 stars for the quality of the acting. The film itself could have been so much more than it is. All the ingredients are there. For those who want to automatically call it an EXORCIST rip off, it certainly is not. The story is very different and fully based on the presence of the stigmata.
The story is original, believable and much effort is put into the special effects. But the script does not totally flow and the scares and suspense just aren't really there. Maybe it is overproduced. Again, the acting is superb. patricia Arquette has an acting tour de force as Frankie, the young woman who is stricken by the stigmata as is Gabriel Byrne as Father Kiernan the investigative priest sent to study her. They also play very well off each other. Also, each scene in which she is stricken by another sign of the stigmata is very efefectively shown.
But all the other pieces just don't mesh. I think the producers and writers took on too much and didn't give the movie and storyline the dedication it deserved. It is certainly not a bad movie and has some of the best acting you will ever see. But Patricia Arquette and Gabriel Byrne are certainly let down by the material they are given. They carry it as best they can.
Had this film been handled more carefully it could have become a very important, popular film with a message that put it in the same genre as THE EXORCIST but kept it a standout film in its own right. People see the clips etc. and think its just another film about a possessed girl. This is so not true and sadly the opportunity to tell the story well is wasted as is the excellent acting. But believe me, allow yourself to watch it just for that - the acting - and Patricia Arquette in particular will blow you away.
Summary of Stigmata
Gabriel Byrne plays Father Kiernan, a young Jesuit priest whose degree in chemistry makes him a sort of priest/detective as he investigates weeping Marys and the like around the world. Meanwhile, Frankie (Patricia Arquette), a rave-generation Pittsburgher, is afflicted with the stigmata--holes that appear in her wrists, resembling the wounds of Christ. The young woman's symptoms filter back to the Vatican and Father Kiernan is assigned to the case. The priest is puzzled by Frankie's atheism; usually the stigmata only appear on the devout (hence the age-old controversy of miracles vs. hysteria). Other manifestations appear on Frankie, and the priest's cardinal (Jonathan Pryce) is brought in, leading to political maneuvering within the Church hierarchy. The film owes a large and obvious debt to The Exorcist (at one point, Frankie's bed scoots across the room and she levitates into a crucifix position), but to term it an Exorcist rip-off would be to shortchange Stigmata. The premise and screenplay are more cerebral than in the l973 film, and the source of the phenomenon is coming from a completely different place.Unfortunately, amid Stigmata's high-octane editing and slick technique, the chills of The Exorcist aren't there, giving the movie a sort of identity crisis: horror movie or intellectual thriller? Several elements of the film challenge basic tenets of the Catholic faith, hence the brief furor that erupted at the time of the film's release; if nothing else, the internal workings of the Church are shown in a very unflattering light indeed. Byrne excels as the skeptical priest, as does Arquette as the tortured young woman. All told, Stigmata is a rather uneven effort, but one with a thought-provoking combination of theology and thrills served up in a thoroughly modern, stylish package. Fans of TV's Ally McBeal will recognize Portia DeRossi in a supporting role. --Jerry Renshaw
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