STIGMATA (1999) **1/2
Starring: Patricia Arquette, Gabriel Byrne, Nia Long, Jonathan Pryce, and Thomas Kopache Director: Rupert Wainwright 108 minutes Rated R (for strong graphic violence, some language, thematic elements, and brief sexuality)
By Blake French:
"Stigmata" is a very strange film. It takes a real hit on Catholicism, and at times, religion in general. Obviously, "Stigmata" isn't a film for all audiences, people with strong religious beliefs, for instance, and is certainly not appropriate for younger viewers. The production has so many good qualities, it's a shame to ultimately conceive that the flaw that sunk the motion picture is not its story or characters, but the individual scenes themselves. I can compare this film's failure to a jigsaw puzzle in which there are many interestingly shaped and colorful pieces, but, unfortunately, they do not fit together to create a final piece of work.
The filmmakers are hard at work here, including the production designers who, feature attractive, idealistic and convincing set designs and interesting prop use. The audience does buy the film as biblical territory. And with this to their credit, they should have gone way over the top with the touchy subject "Stigmata" deals with. Well, they do indeed take the plot the extra mile here, and quite graphically at times, may I add. But they go so far over the top at times, the filmmakers have nowhere to go after the scenes of aggressiveness. Those instances in the movie change tone rather rapidly. This is due to the very high peak of tension created. Therefore, the film has nowhere to go but downhill, giving us an overall production that has about a half dozen really scary moments that last about thirty seconds each, and the rest of the movie is just mediocre melodrama.
The film opens with an acclaimed and dedicated Priest/scientist named Andrew Kiernan investigating a bizarre occurrence in a Brazilian church where a religious statue bled from its eyes. After noticing a few unique things in this town, however, after he returns home to Cardinal Daniel Houseman, Kiernan pleads to be sent back to this area to investigate further, but his requests are suspiciously denied.
The film then jumps to another story, where a young atheist woman named Frankie Paige lives an independent life in Pittsburgh where she is occupied as a hair stylist with her fellow coworkers, including close friend Donna.
Things drastically heat up for Frankie after she receives a rather significant gift from her mother who was shopping on vacation. This is an item from a salesperson off the streets whom himself stole from a dead Brazilian priest. Soon, Frankie begins to suffer violent, disturbing visions and appearing on her afterwards are wounds resembling the ones suffered by Christ, a symptom called the stigmata.
This is where the Priest comes in. After more and more stigmata attacks are inflicted on Frankie, Kiernan is sent to Pittsburgh where he investigates. It is when Frankie explains to Kiernan that she does not believe in God when he then denies the occurring stigmata attacks on her. You see, usually the stigmata happens to deeply religious Catholics, and Frankie is anything but. On the other hand, never before has each one of the five stigmatic wounds taken place on one individual person, and by the time this film is over, guess how many Frankie will have suffered.
I liked the film's characters, as did I the performances. It is interesting for me to see such a shallow character as Frankie Paige be caught right in the middle of such a deep, spiritual situation. And who better to play the character than the always entertaining Patricia Arquette, who dazzled earlier this year in "Goodbye, Lover," and now, with "Stigmata," plays Paige with the right sarcasm material.
This is not to say that "Stigmata" is perfect in its use of characters--as a madder of fact, the film is characteristically flawed. Take, for instance, Frankie's best friend, Donna, who at first is present to serve as a companion for Frankie. Then, right in the middle of the movie, when the script no longer required her presence, she completely disappears without a trace. Why does this happen? Because the story gets too involved for the characters to have "buddies," making the rest of the characters, although not completely, puppets of the plot.
"Stigmata" contains the kind of plot that I liked to experience; a deep, involved and revealing storyline that focuses on touchy subjects. The characters are lost in their dialogue, but if the audience buys the premise, they allow themselves to be sucked in the events that transpire. The person who I saw this movie with found the plot too absorbing for her, and I have a feeling that this is how the majority of an audience will feel, therefore, although it is a close call for me, I am not recommending the film. I do feel, however, that there is a group of individuals out there who, like I somewhat was able to do, will happen to enjoy this production for what it is worth. If the film fit together a bit more, I think there may have been much potential here. But in the end, "Stigmata," gets lost in its controversial atmosphere and forgets that movies like this need explanation and a through-line, not brief grizzly scenes that repeat themselves over and over again.
Brought to you by MGM Productions.
