Stigmata (1999)

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 Amazon.com

GOD IS LOVE

In French we say "Dieu est amour" (God is love) and we all understand that what "is" (reality), is important. I think the movie addresses this issue in a very interesting way. I was concerned by the way the universal church is portrayed, for one must never forget that Jesus said to Peter, "Peter you are the rock and upon this rock I will build the church" etc... The church is the house of God and God is love (Dieu est amour). November 25, 2008

Excellent Acting

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.

September 30, 2008

not very significant

Stigmata isn't painful, but it does have the stigma of not being very good. It is a horror film but in this case the monster that terrorizes our young protagonist is Jesus Christ--or someone carrying a message from him. It compares to The Exorcist and The DaVinci Code, but is not as good as either. By straddling the two genres of horror and dramatic Vatican thriller, it succeeds at neither. The stigmata scenes aren't scary and they overuse sloppy special effects. Why is there always water dripping, and why does Frankie Paige, a hairdresser in Pittsburgh, always smell flowers whenever she is having an episode? And how do two hairdressers living together afford such a large albeit somewhat scummy but artfully decorated loft?

The film is based on an interesting premise, that the Vatican is suppressing certain gospels that have turned up by Peter, Mary Magdalene and even Judas. This plot pivots around one written by Thomas--and such a text does exist though its veracity is questioned. The film, however, is a little sloppy with the details, claiming it was written in Aramaic, a language spoken in Jesus' day, but it is actually in Coptic, an ancient Egyptian language based on the Greek alphabet. Here is a quote from Stigmata that was taken from The Gospel of Thomas, verse 77:

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[Frankie is possessed by Father Alameida]
Frankie: Jesus said... the Kingdom of God is inside you, and all around you, not in mansions of wood and stone. Split a piece of wood... and I am there, lift a stone... and you will find me.
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At one point our stigmatized hairdresser ostensibly writes Aramaic on the walls of her loft, but the director actually had her write in ancient Hebrew because he thought it looked cooler. But I quibble. I am not sure if, as Father Andrew Kiernan (Gabriel Byrne) claims, that St Francis of Assisi was the first to receive stigmata, but I have a whole pack of fact checkers working on it and you will be the first to know should they unearth any verification. Another interesting factoid gleaned from Father Kiernan was that the nails in a crucifixion actually go through the wrists, because palms couldn't support the weight. This is in spite of all the crucifixes you see showing the nail through the palm. Another Vatican cover up?

Though not a great film, it is at least mildly entertaining, with performances by Patricia Arquette as Frankie Paige--the stigmatized hair dresser, Gabriel Byrne, Enrico Colantoni as Father Dario, and Jonathan Pryce as the sinister Cardinal Daniel Houseman.

Patricia's character, Frankie, for short, is named Francis, and this is an allusion to St. Francis of Assisi, the first person believed to be stigmatized. Patricia is younger sister to Rosanna Arquette, and also a sister to David Arquette, and therefore is sister-in-law to Courtney Cox. She is also the grand daughter of star of stage and screen, Cliff Arquette, best known for the character 'Charlie Weaver' that he created for the Jack Paar Show. An interesting bit of Patricia trivia is that Tom Waits' wife called Patricia a Bonsai Aphrodite, and Tom used that line in the song "Black Market Baby" from The Mule Variations. She is quite the Bonsai Aphrodite, though I didn't recognize her at first, but upon further investigation I found that she played the medium, Allison Dubois, on the TV program: Medium.

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[Frankie is possessed by Father Alameida]
Father Andrew Kiernan: Frankie? Frankie... who are you?
Frankie: The messenger is not important.
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If, as Marshall McLuhan posits, The Medium is the Message, and the messenger is not important, what does that portend?

Other Patricia Arquette film credits include Ed Wood, with Johnny Depp; Little Nicky, with Adam Sandler; a dual role in Lost Highway, directed by David Lynch; and finally, she played Linda Loveless opposite Charlie Sheen, who (in quite a stretch) portrayed Chuck Traynor, in Deeper Than Deep. Though Stigmata is not her best work, she at least had the best line:

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Dr. Reston: And are there any problems with a significant other?
Frankie: Yes...
Dr. Reston: Which is?
Frankie: I'm not very significant.
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This could serve as the film's epitaph.

Gabriel Byrne was the priest who investigates miracles and debunks them with science. Byrne is from Dublin, and his slight bit o' brogue didn't seem out of place on a Catholic Priest. I last recall seeing him in Little Women with Winona Ryder, but he also played Byron in Gothic, and was one of the usual suspects in The Usual Suspects. In 1999, besides Stigmata, Byrne was also in The End Days. Both performances earned him Razzies for worst supporting actor, but Stigmata also won him a best supporting actor award--but it was from Blockbuster.

Jonathan Pryce is probably now best known for playing Governor Weatherbee Swann from The Pirates of the Caribbean. I liked his off beat brother-in-law Norman in The Rachel Papers far better. Other notable films worth the Pryce were Brazil, Glengarry Glen Ross, and De-Lovely. De-Lovely was a bio pic of Cole Porter starring Kevin Kline, and Pryce's character Gabe sang Porter's "Blow, Gabriel, Blow." However, as the embodiment of Vatican corruption and cover-up in Stigmata, he didn't really measure up to my expectations.

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Cardinal Daniel Houseman: [while trying to strangle Frankie] I'll not let you destroy my church!
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Not buying it, Pryce!

Enrico Colantoni might be familiar to you from Just Shoot Me! where he played the photographer, or from Veronica Mars where he played Veronica's father, a former cop turned private eye. Now he is playing a SWAT cop on a new show, Flashpoint, but we will see if that isn't just another flash-in-the-pan.

According to the credits, Portia de Rossi played Jennifer Kelliho in Stigmata, but I would have to watch it again to see who she was and how she does. Portia has also had her most successful roles on television, notably as "Ice Queen" lawyer Nell Porter on Ally McBeal, Lindsay Bluth Fünke on Arrested Development, and Olivia Lord on Nip/Tuck. By the way, Portia married Ellen DeGeneres on August 16, 2008 at Ellen's house in Beverly Hills, California attended by Ellen's mother and her mother. I wonder who caught Portia's garter?

PATRICIA ARQUETTE

Deeper Than Deep (2003) .... Linda Lovelace
The Badge (2002) .... Scarlett
Human Nature (2001) .... Lila Jute
Little Nicky (2000) .... Valerie Veran
Bringing Out the Dead (1999) .... Mary Burke
The Hi-Lo Country (1998) .... Mona Birk
... aka Hi-Lo Country - Im Land der letzten Cowboys (Germany: TV title)
Goodbye Lover (1998) .... Sandra Dunmore
Nightwatch (1997) .... Katherine
Lost Highway (1997) .... Renee Madison / Alice Wakefield
Infinity (1996) .... Arline Greenbaum
The Secret Agent (1996) .... Winnie
... aka Joseph Conrad's The Secret Agent
Flirting with Disaster (1996) .... Nancy Coplin
Beyond Rangoon (1995) .... Laura Bowman
Ed Wood (Special Edition) (1994) .... Kathy O'Hara

GABRIEL BYRNE

The Usual Suspects (1995) .... Dean Keaton
... aka Üblichen Verdächtigen, Die (Germany)
Little Women (Collector's Edition) (1994) .... Friedrich Bhaer
Gothic (1986) .... Byron
End of Days (1999) .... The Man / Satan

JONATHAN PRYCE

Brazil (1985) .... Sam Lowry
Ronin (1998) .... Seamus O'Rourke
The Rachel Papers (1989) .... Norman
Glengarry Glen Ross (1992) .... James Lingk
De-Lovely (2004) .... Gabe
Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983) .... Mr. Dark
Jumpin' Jack Flash (1986) .... Jack
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007) .... Governor Weatherby Swann
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) .... Governor Weatherby Swann
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) .... Governor Weatherby Swann

COMPARE AND CONTRAST

The Da Vinci Code [UMD for PSP] (2006)
The Exorcist (25th Anniversary Special Edition) (1973)
September 1, 2008

Excellent

The quality and arrival of this product was rated by me as being in excellent quality and excellent arrival time. August 28, 2008

Excellent

Excellent, fast and economic, I would like to buy this movie for a long time, and I found here and a good price.... July 12, 2008

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