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HORROR: Stigmata
REVIEWER: Shane Gavin
RATING: A-
REVIEW:
FRESH as it is controversial, STIGMATA shocked me. I was turning up to
see a film that I assumed would be nothing if not boring. The film was
shocking and up front and in some ways even fetishes crucifixions. The
film follows the life of non-religious Frankie Paige (Patricia Arquette)
and her encounters with a very religious being that takes over her body in
order to pass on a special message to an investigator that had been so far
suppressed by the church. Gabriel Byrne plays an investigator
(Father Kiernan) with the church who is tempted more than once by Frankie
in her various states of mind.
Rupert Wainwright is surely a director to keep your eye on the
following years. It will be interesting to see where his tools of the
trade take him. Unfortunately he is not slated to do any more films
at this stager, but the research and philosophy behind this film must have
had him hard at work for several years prepping for a shoot that would pay
off generously. The film opened at #1 at the US box office and it was
deserving of more accolades than it received.
The film will not change the way you think about the church, it will
change the way you think about belief systems and faith. The film is
surely there to make you question what is faith, what is real, is faith
reality or purely spiritually based. These are all difficult questions
that some religions would prefer you not to ask. The film itself is
also fairly gorey in its displays. The fact that the Stigmata was passing
through a woman almost made her pain more of an ecstasy and the following
lavender smell seemed to romantacise the whole experience.
The film played on my mind long after my first viewing. It is worth
the cash to rent it or buy it, but if you are a card holding member
of the church it will frighten and perhaps offend you A-
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, 1998-2000.