by Yazmin Ghonaim

STIGMATA Rupert Wainwright (1999) Directed by Rupert Wainwright, Stigmata is a film which revolves around the "stigmatic" experiences suffered by its protagonist. A twenty-year-old atheist hairdresser living in Pittsburgh, Frankie Paige (Patricia Arquette) is the unlikely victim of a series of unexplainable incidents or stigmata (marks or sores resembling the crucifixion wounds of Christ). As doctors are unable to offer a concrete diagnosis, the case attracts the attention of the head of the Miracles research department at the Vatican (played by Jonathan Pryce), who sends investigator/priest/scientist Andrew Kiernan (Gabriel Byrne) to debunk the supernatural claims. The awkward encounters between Kiernan, Paige and the spirit that possesses her promise to reveal a revolutionary message, and with it the Vatican's desperate measures to annihilate it. Despite Stigmata's interesting premise, the film's plot is overshadowed by the repeatedly emphasized images of the stigmata. What results is a glamorization of the visual representations of Christlike torture (a choice which distracts the plot from a potentially intriguing story) and the exploitation of the images of the historical wounds.		DVD Music Books Search by keywords:
Outstanding Features: Visual Imagery/Iconography Stigmata Movie Review © 1999 Cinephiles - All rights reserved.