Stigmata (1999)

User Rating:

6.0/10   

Director:

Rupert Wainwright

Writers (WGA):

Tom Lazarus (story)
Tom Lazarus (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

10 September 1999 (USA)

Genre:

Fantasy | Mystery | Drama | Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

The Messenger is Here

Plot:

A priest from the Vatican is sent in to investigate claims that a small town in Brazil has a church where statues bleed from the eyes...

Plot Keywords:

Priest | Stigmata | Wound | Vatican | Catholic

Awards:

6 nominations

Cast

Patricia Arquette	...	Frankie Paige
Gabriel Byrne	...	Father Andrew Kiernan
Jonathan Pryce	...	Cardinal Daniel Houseman
Nia Long	...	Donna Chadway
Thomas Kopache	...	Father Durning
Rade Serbedzija	...	Marion Petrocelli (as Rade Sherbedgia)
Enrico Colantoni	...	Father Dario
Dick Latessa	...	Father Gianni Delmonico
Portia de Rossi	...	Jennifer Kelliho
Patrick Muldoon	...	Steven
Ann Cusack	...	Dr. Reston
Shaun Toub	...	Doctor
Tom Hodges	...	ER Nurse
Lydia Hazan	...	Attending Nurse
Shaun Duke	...	Dr. Eckworth (as Duke Moosekian)

Also Known As:

Toby's Story (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for intense violent sequences, language and some sexuality.

Runtime:

103 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Assyrian Neo-Aramaic | Portuguese | Italian | Aramaic

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Netherlands:16 | Argentina:13 | Australia:MA | Chile:14 | Finland:K-16 | France:-12 | Germany:16 | Hong Kong:IIB | Ireland:15 | New Zealand:R16 | Norway:15 | Portugal:M/16 | South Africa:18 | Sweden:15 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) | UK:18 | USA:R (certificate #36043) | South Korea:18 | Philippines:PG-13 | Singapore:R(A) (original rating) | Singapore:M18 (re-rating)

Filming Locations:

Eastern Columbia Building - 849 S. Broadway, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

Some of the footage of the subway car is from Money Train (1995). You can actually see the steel beam sticking out of the front window.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Frankie is being whipped on the subway train, there is a cut scene of a closeup of her face where there is blood on the side of her mouth. In all continuing shots after this, the blood is gone.

Quotes:

Dr. Reston: And are there any problems with a significant other?
Frankie: Yes...
Dr. Reston: Which is?
Frankie: I'm not very significant.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Eagle Eye (2008)

Soundtrack:

Gramarye

Better than you might think

The "stigmata" is a Christian religious term that refers to the spontaneous appearance of wounds corresponding to the wounds on the Christ's body when he was crucified. This religious experience is most typically associated with deeply religious people and, I believe, is not one that is widely taken seriously. What makes this movie interesting is that it portrays the appearance of these wounds as a terrifying, extremely painful and ultimately humiliating experience. There's nothing conventionally religious in the experience portrayed here -- in fact, the victim is an athiest.

But, having bypassed the conventional, the movie is only partially successful in bringing the experience of the stigmata to the screen. The movie is a victim itself of a conventional portrayal of the evil bureaucratic Vatican desk jockeys suppressing "true" religion. And I have to admit that, as I was watching it, I found myself thinking, "Hmm, that sounds like the Gospel of Thomas," -- a famous Gnostic Gospel. Surprise.

But, overall, I'd recommend it as a decent movie and a departure from the generic, bland portrayal of Christian religious experience a la the Hallmark channel or "Touched by an Angel." It is a movie that can make you think about the nature of religious experience and its impact on an ordinary life.