Stigmata (1999)

Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

best movie i've ever seen.

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

This movie is somewhat garbage and too simple, the subject matter of the movie, Christianity, has nothing to do with how ridiculous the movie is. There are scenes in the movie that is so "out-of-the-blue" with no apparent reason whatsoever for it to happen in the first place, making it cringe-worthy to watch. Is this horror? Meh.

Patricia Arquette's decent performance as an atheist "struck with stigmata" helps a bit in this, to put it mildly, disastrous possession film with a scathing view of the Catholic Church. I'm not Catholic, but even I found this more than a bit hard to digest. Text, it seems, tells us that Christ didn't need a church to come in the middle of his relationship with us. Umm…this is kind of a belief for many of the Christian faith already. Many Christians feel there's no need for a "middleman" in order to have a spiritual relationship with Jesus. Anyway, Jonathan Pryce, who just doesn't have it in him to portray a character other than the stuffy, scheming, morally dubious villain, is a Cardinal willing to kill so that he can "protect the church". Gabriel Byrne is a former scientist who become a priest and is sent to study Arquette's stigmata, mainly to see if he can objectively dispute her condition as just some physical malady. Arquette is a hairdresser in Pittsburgh who wants no part of the stigmata, simply wanting the marks (and all the pain and blood that comes with them, including visions) out of her life. This film is all about effects: the slow motion of blood as it textures in water, a male voice speaking through Arquette's mouth as she tosses a bewildered Byrne all over her house (the house becomes a wreck and Byrne seems to take it all in stride each time she hurls him across her room), the levitation where Arquette is lifted in a crucifixion "pose", and the final *groan, groan* exorcism attempt by Pryce on Arquette. The whole possession angle—that it could be a priest instead of the devil—seems rather obnoxious because if it is a man of the cloth taking control of Arquette why would he question Byrne's spirituality, make a pass at him, and throttle him to and fro all over an apartment? Why would such spiritual enlightenment occur as if it were pangs and throngs of absolute agony? Ultimately, Arquette speaks in a foreign tongue, pins odd symbols to her wall that reads of the "Gospel That the Vatican Doesn't Appreciate", and bleeds a lot. So many scenes where she's bedridden with blood wiped away by Byrne at her bedside, that damned bowl of water right there to be photographed artistically. There's plenty of extravagant effects, cinematography, sound effects, and a loud score to try and pound away at our sensibilities. I return to Arquette: I think she was good casting in a film that doesn't deserve her, really. Byrne gives his best serious face to all the possession shenanigans that test even the most sincere actor's poise. A considerable waste of Hollywood resources…this is a broken record complaint, isn't it?

Regardless of if u fall under the category of you having faith or not, this movie will captivate you, we have all wondered at some point, if there is actually something else out there other than aliens or just ourselves, we where all so to speak, generally, brought up believing in the fact that God and his Son exists. Myself, personally never actually committing to this idea, but always wondering if there is a higher power, and if so could it actually be real and would it ever affect little old me, well, this is the movie to start u thinking, God never came into my life, so why should i believe he existed, the church claim only the worthy should manifest such claims as visits, stigmata, or blessings etc, what if,,,,, it actually happened to you, or your family/friends! would you then be a believer? and if so, would u then decide you had to attend a church to praise him? This movie opens and closes all chapters, and leaves u wanting more? You don't have to be religious to get this movie, you do have to have a mild understanding of whats its all about though, and if, like me, you tread the path of the unknown, this movie may yet make you wonder, there may actually be more to this whole game that i call life than i think, i still ain't a believer, well not in the church nor its foundations, but i now believe that i'm not alone with my thoughts. This is one of my all time favourite movies though. A must watch movie, again and again!

A priest from the Vatican is sent to Sao Paulo, Brazil to investigate the appearance of the face of the Virgin Mary on the side of a building.While there he hears of a statue of the Virgin Mary bleeding tears in a small town outside of the city.Meanwhile, a young woman in the U.S. begins to show signs of stigmata, the wounds of Christ.The priest from the Vatican links up with her and cares for her as she is increasingly afflicted by the stigmata.Her ranting and raving finally begins to make sense to the priest who starts to question what his religion has stood for for the last 1900 years.....Stigmata is not a scary film. In fact, it's quite difficult to put this movie into a genre. Unless there was a 'heavily edited, made to look like a music video type' movie, because this is what basically the film is, all style and no substance.But it's quite endearing thanks to the two leads.Arquette is Alabama from True Romance without the fun or adrenalin, and Byrne is basically the same character from End of days, but playing for a different team.And we spend the duration of the film watcing arquette get wounded and everyone thinking she is mad, apart from Byrne, who thinks she is revealing something that happened at the time of the Crucifixion.But Jonathon Pryce won't let him go deeper, because he's still fresh from bad guy duty in 'Tomorrow never dies'.It's a confusing film, but done with a lot of class, and a lot good camera work.If more had gone into the story than the effects, we would have had a winner, but we just have, a great pop promo without the song