Stigmata (film)
Encyclopedia
Stigmata is a 1999 supernatural horror film
directed by Rupert Wainwright
and starring Patricia Arquette
as a hairdresser from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
, who is afflicted with the stigmata
after acquiring a rosary
formerly owned by a deceased Italian priest who himself suffered from the phenomena. Gabriel Byrne
plays a Vatican
official who investigates her case, and Jonathan Pryce
plays a corrupt Catholic Church official.
ian village of Belo Quinto, with Father Andrew Kiernan (Gabriel Byrne
), a former scientist and ordained
Jesuit priest
who investigates supposed miracles, examining a statue of the Virgin of Guadalupe weeping blood at the funeral of Father Paulo Alameida (Jack Donner
). While Andrew is collecting evidence, a young boy steals the rosary from the father's hand, and later sells it to a woman in a marketplace, who sends it to her daughter Frankie Paige (Patricia Arquette
) living in Pittsburgh. Shortly after, Frankie is attacked while bathing and receives two deep wounds on her wrists, and as the wounds are treated at the hospital the doctors cannot find the cause beyond that they are puncture wounds and go all the way through the wrist. Frankie goes to work the next day, but on the way home on the subway approaches a priest and asks if he is Andrew Kiernan. After the priest tells her he is Father Derning, the lights in the train begin to flash, and Frankie holds onto the bars lining the ceiling as she is whipped from behind by an unseen force, Father Derning watching in horror. While Frankie is hospitalized again, the priest sends security tapes showing the attack to the Vatican, and Andrew is sent to investigate.
Andrew meets Frankie, who tells him she has been expecting him, and Andrew interviews her, believing her wounds may be stigmata
. When she tells him she is an atheist, Andrew tells her that stigmatics are universally spiritual people, and that stigmata is when the deeply devoted are struck with the same five wounds that Jesus Christ received during the crucifixion - thus far Frankie has been impaled through the wrists and whipped. Frankie walks away and begins to research on her own what could be the cause to no avail. Later while at a nightclub, Frankie's head begins to bleed, the third stigmata wound caused by the Crown of Thorns
. Frankie runs home, where Andrew is waiting, then runs into an alley. As Andrew pursues her, Frankie smashes a glass bottle and uses the shards to carve symbols on the hood of a car: when Andrew approaches her, she yells at him in another language. Andrew takes Frankie to Father Derning's church, and the Vatican translates what she was yelling as Aramaic, the language of Christ. Frankie goes home, and the next morning Andrew returns to her apartment to find her writing in marker on the wall, now covered in Aramaic. When questioned, Frankie responds in a male voice speaking Italian, then collapses on the bed. Frankie goes out and walks the streets with Andrew, when she collapses as wounds appear in her feet, the fourth wound of stigmata.
Andrew emails photographs of Frankie's apartment wall to the Vatican, where Brother Delmonico (Dick Latessa
) recognizes the words and deletes the pictures and tells Andrew the words are from a document the church found that looked to be an entirely new gospel. Father Dario (Enrico Colantoni
) retrieves the pictures and shows them to Cardinal Daniel Houseman (Jonathan Pryce
), who also recognizes them. Meanwhile, Delmonico phones Marion Petrocelli (Rade Sherbedgia
) and tells him the missing gospel has been found in Pittsburgh. In Pittsburgh, Andrew goes to Frankie's apartment to find the wall she wrote on painted over, and Frankie attempts to seduce him. When Andrew rejects her she attacks him, wind blowing through the apartment as Frankie denounces Andrew's beliefs in a male voice, ending with Frankie levitating off the bed crying tears of blood. Houseman and Dario arrive at the apartment with Derning and take Frankie to another church, sending Andrew to Derning's.
At Derning's church Andrew meets Petrocelli, who tells him the words Frankie has been writing are part of a document found outside Jerusalem that they believed to be a gospel in the exact words of Jesus Christ. Petrocelli, Delmonico and Alameida were assigned to translate it, but Houseman ordered them to stop. Alameida refused and stole the document to continue translating it alone, having been excommunicated
by Houseman. Petrocelli tells Andrew that the document was Jesus telling his disciples that the kingdom of God is all around them and not confined to churches, a revelation that could ruin the Catholic Church. Petrocelli also tells Andrew that Alameida suffered from stigmata. Andrew races to the church where Frankie is while Houseman and Dario attempt to perform an exorcism
on Frankie. Frankie shouts at them in a male voice, and Houseman dismisses Dario and the present nuns before attempting to strangle Frankie. Andrew arrives and stops him, and the fireplaces in the room erupt and set the room on fire. Now believing Frankie is possessed by Alameida's spirit, Andrew offers to be Alameida's messenger and walks through the fire to retrieve Frankie, bidding Alameida's spirit to depart in peace. Some time later, Andrew returns to Belo Quinto and finds the original documents for the lost gospel under the floorboards of Alameida's church.
The film ends with a screen of text describing the discovery of the Gospel of Thomas, believed according to the film to be the closest thing to the actual words of Jesus while alive: the film states the Catholic Church refuses to recognize the document as a gospel and considers it heresy
.
at the box office. In the United States, Stigmata earned $50,046,268. Internationally the film earned $39,400,000 for a total world wide gross $89,446,268.
gives the film a score of 21% approval rating at, based on 89 reviews (19 positive, 70 negative).
Roger Ebert
called it "possibly the funniest movie ever made about Catholicism — from a theological point of view."
Supernatural fiction
Supernatural fiction is a literary genre exploiting or requiring as plot devices or themes some contradictions of the commonplace natural world and materialist assumptions about it....
directed by Rupert Wainwright
Rupert Wainwright
Rupert Wainwright is an English film and television director, writer, and actor.Wainwright was born in Cotswolds, UK and started his film career in the 1980s as an actor...
and starring Patricia Arquette
Patricia Arquette
Patricia T. Arquette is an American actress and director. She played the lead character in the supernatural drama series Medium for which she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series....
as a hairdresser from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
, who is afflicted with the stigmata
Stigmata
Stigmata are bodily marks, sores, or sensations of pain in locations corresponding to the crucifixion wounds of Jesus, such as the hands and feet...
after acquiring a rosary
Rosary
The rosary or "garland of roses" is a traditional Catholic devotion. The term denotes the prayer beads used to count the series of prayers that make up the rosary...
formerly owned by a deceased Italian priest who himself suffered from the phenomena. Gabriel Byrne
Gabriel Byrne
Gabriel James Byrne is an Irish actor, film director, film producer, writer, cultural ambassador and audiobook narrator. His acting career began in the Focus Theatre before he joined Londo's Royal Court Theatre in 1979. Byrne's screen debut came in the Irish soap opera The Riordans and the...
plays a Vatican
Holy See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
official who investigates her case, and Jonathan Pryce
Jonathan Pryce
Jonathan Pryce, CBE is a Welsh stage and film actor and singer. After studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and meeting his longtime partner English actress Kate Fahy in 1974, he began his career as a stage actor in the 1970s...
plays a corrupt Catholic Church official.
Plot
The film opens in the BrazilBrazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
ian village of Belo Quinto, with Father Andrew Kiernan (Gabriel Byrne
Gabriel Byrne
Gabriel James Byrne is an Irish actor, film director, film producer, writer, cultural ambassador and audiobook narrator. His acting career began in the Focus Theatre before he joined Londo's Royal Court Theatre in 1979. Byrne's screen debut came in the Irish soap opera The Riordans and the...
), a former scientist and ordained
Ordination
In general religious use, ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart as clergy to perform various religious rites and ceremonies. The process and ceremonies of ordination itself varies by religion and denomination. One who is in preparation for, or who is...
Jesuit priest
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
who investigates supposed miracles, examining a statue of the Virgin of Guadalupe weeping blood at the funeral of Father Paulo Alameida (Jack Donner
Jack Donner
Jack Donner is an American actor. He acted in theater, as well as in television and film.-Early life:Donner was born in Los Angeles, California. He has worked steadily in television and film since the 1950s including early work on The Guiding Light and As the World Turns...
). While Andrew is collecting evidence, a young boy steals the rosary from the father's hand, and later sells it to a woman in a marketplace, who sends it to her daughter Frankie Paige (Patricia Arquette
Patricia Arquette
Patricia T. Arquette is an American actress and director. She played the lead character in the supernatural drama series Medium for which she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series....
) living in Pittsburgh. Shortly after, Frankie is attacked while bathing and receives two deep wounds on her wrists, and as the wounds are treated at the hospital the doctors cannot find the cause beyond that they are puncture wounds and go all the way through the wrist. Frankie goes to work the next day, but on the way home on the subway approaches a priest and asks if he is Andrew Kiernan. After the priest tells her he is Father Derning, the lights in the train begin to flash, and Frankie holds onto the bars lining the ceiling as she is whipped from behind by an unseen force, Father Derning watching in horror. While Frankie is hospitalized again, the priest sends security tapes showing the attack to the Vatican, and Andrew is sent to investigate.
Andrew meets Frankie, who tells him she has been expecting him, and Andrew interviews her, believing her wounds may be stigmata
Stigmata
Stigmata are bodily marks, sores, or sensations of pain in locations corresponding to the crucifixion wounds of Jesus, such as the hands and feet...
. When she tells him she is an atheist, Andrew tells her that stigmatics are universally spiritual people, and that stigmata is when the deeply devoted are struck with the same five wounds that Jesus Christ received during the crucifixion - thus far Frankie has been impaled through the wrists and whipped. Frankie walks away and begins to research on her own what could be the cause to no avail. Later while at a nightclub, Frankie's head begins to bleed, the third stigmata wound caused by the Crown of Thorns
Crown of Thorns
In Christianity, the Crown of Thorns, one of the instruments of the Passion, was woven of thorn branches and placed on Jesus Christ before his crucifixion...
. Frankie runs home, where Andrew is waiting, then runs into an alley. As Andrew pursues her, Frankie smashes a glass bottle and uses the shards to carve symbols on the hood of a car: when Andrew approaches her, she yells at him in another language. Andrew takes Frankie to Father Derning's church, and the Vatican translates what she was yelling as Aramaic, the language of Christ. Frankie goes home, and the next morning Andrew returns to her apartment to find her writing in marker on the wall, now covered in Aramaic. When questioned, Frankie responds in a male voice speaking Italian, then collapses on the bed. Frankie goes out and walks the streets with Andrew, when she collapses as wounds appear in her feet, the fourth wound of stigmata.
Andrew emails photographs of Frankie's apartment wall to the Vatican, where Brother Delmonico (Dick Latessa
Dick Latessa
Richard Robert "Dick" Latessa is an American actor.Latessa was born in Cleveland, Ohio to a mother who was an automotive upholstery maker. Latessa made his Broadway debut in The Education of H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N in 1968...
) recognizes the words and deletes the pictures and tells Andrew the words are from a document the church found that looked to be an entirely new gospel. Father Dario (Enrico Colantoni
Enrico Colantoni
Enrico Colantoni is a Canadian actor, probably best known for portraying Elliot DiMauro in the sitcom Just Shoot Me!, Keith Mars on the television series Veronica Mars, and Sergeant Greg Parker on the television series Flashpoint. He has also had supporting roles in such films as The Wrong Guy, ...
) retrieves the pictures and shows them to Cardinal Daniel Houseman (Jonathan Pryce
Jonathan Pryce
Jonathan Pryce, CBE is a Welsh stage and film actor and singer. After studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and meeting his longtime partner English actress Kate Fahy in 1974, he began his career as a stage actor in the 1970s...
), who also recognizes them. Meanwhile, Delmonico phones Marion Petrocelli (Rade Sherbedgia
Rade Šerbedžija
Rade Šerbedžija , occasionally credited as Rade Sherbedgia in some English-language productions, is a Croatian actor, director and musician of Serb origin. He was one of the most popular Yugoslav actors in the 1970s and 1980s. He is now internationally known mainly for his supporting roles in...
) and tells him the missing gospel has been found in Pittsburgh. In Pittsburgh, Andrew goes to Frankie's apartment to find the wall she wrote on painted over, and Frankie attempts to seduce him. When Andrew rejects her she attacks him, wind blowing through the apartment as Frankie denounces Andrew's beliefs in a male voice, ending with Frankie levitating off the bed crying tears of blood. Houseman and Dario arrive at the apartment with Derning and take Frankie to another church, sending Andrew to Derning's.
At Derning's church Andrew meets Petrocelli, who tells him the words Frankie has been writing are part of a document found outside Jerusalem that they believed to be a gospel in the exact words of Jesus Christ. Petrocelli, Delmonico and Alameida were assigned to translate it, but Houseman ordered them to stop. Alameida refused and stole the document to continue translating it alone, having been excommunicated
Excommunication
Excommunication is a religious censure used to deprive, suspend or limit membership in a religious community. The word means putting [someone] out of communion. In some religions, excommunication includes spiritual condemnation of the member or group...
by Houseman. Petrocelli tells Andrew that the document was Jesus telling his disciples that the kingdom of God is all around them and not confined to churches, a revelation that could ruin the Catholic Church. Petrocelli also tells Andrew that Alameida suffered from stigmata. Andrew races to the church where Frankie is while Houseman and Dario attempt to perform an exorcism
Exorcism
Exorcism is the religious practice of evicting demons or other spiritual entities from a person or place which they are believed to have possessed...
on Frankie. Frankie shouts at them in a male voice, and Houseman dismisses Dario and the present nuns before attempting to strangle Frankie. Andrew arrives and stops him, and the fireplaces in the room erupt and set the room on fire. Now believing Frankie is possessed by Alameida's spirit, Andrew offers to be Alameida's messenger and walks through the fire to retrieve Frankie, bidding Alameida's spirit to depart in peace. Some time later, Andrew returns to Belo Quinto and finds the original documents for the lost gospel under the floorboards of Alameida's church.
The film ends with a screen of text describing the discovery of the Gospel of Thomas, believed according to the film to be the closest thing to the actual words of Jesus while alive: the film states the Catholic Church refuses to recognize the document as a gospel and considers it heresy
Heresy
Heresy is a controversial or novel change to a system of beliefs, especially a religion, that conflicts with established dogma. It is distinct from apostasy, which is the formal denunciation of one's religion, principles or cause, and blasphemy, which is irreverence toward religion...
.
Cast
- Patricia ArquettePatricia ArquettePatricia T. Arquette is an American actress and director. She played the lead character in the supernatural drama series Medium for which she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series....
as Frankie Paige - Gabriel ByrneGabriel ByrneGabriel James Byrne is an Irish actor, film director, film producer, writer, cultural ambassador and audiobook narrator. His acting career began in the Focus Theatre before he joined Londo's Royal Court Theatre in 1979. Byrne's screen debut came in the Irish soap opera The Riordans and the...
as Father Andrew Kiernan - Jonathan PryceJonathan PryceJonathan Pryce, CBE is a Welsh stage and film actor and singer. After studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and meeting his longtime partner English actress Kate Fahy in 1974, he began his career as a stage actor in the 1970s...
as Cardinal Daniel Houseman - Nia LongNia LongNia Talita Long is an American actress and occasional music video director. She is best known for her roles in the television series The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Third Watch, and the films Boiler Room, Soul Food, Love Jones, The Best Man, Big Momma's House, Big Momma's House 2, Are We There...
as Donna Chadway - Rade SherbedgiaRade ŠerbedžijaRade Šerbedžija , occasionally credited as Rade Sherbedgia in some English-language productions, is a Croatian actor, director and musician of Serb origin. He was one of the most popular Yugoslav actors in the 1970s and 1980s. He is now internationally known mainly for his supporting roles in...
as Marion Petrocelli - Enrico ColantoniEnrico ColantoniEnrico Colantoni is a Canadian actor, probably best known for portraying Elliot DiMauro in the sitcom Just Shoot Me!, Keith Mars on the television series Veronica Mars, and Sergeant Greg Parker on the television series Flashpoint. He has also had supporting roles in such films as The Wrong Guy, ...
as Father Dario - Jack DonnerJack DonnerJack Donner is an American actor. He acted in theater, as well as in television and film.-Early life:Donner was born in Los Angeles, California. He has worked steadily in television and film since the 1950s including early work on The Guiding Light and As the World Turns...
as Father Paulo Alameida - Thomas KopacheThomas KopacheThomas Kopache is an American actor.Kopache was born in Manchester, New Hampshire, the son of Dorothy E. . He is known as Assistant Secretary of State Bob Slatterly in The West Wing and for various roles in the Star Trek franchise...
as Father Durning - Dick LatessaDick LatessaRichard Robert "Dick" Latessa is an American actor.Latessa was born in Cleveland, Ohio to a mother who was an automotive upholstery maker. Latessa made his Broadway debut in The Education of H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N in 1968...
as Father Gianni Delmonico - Portia de RossiPortia de RossiPortia Lee James DeGeneres , known professionally as Portia de Rossi , is an Australian-American actress, best known for her roles as lawyer Nelle Porter on the television series Ally McBeal and Lindsay Bluth Fünke on the sitcom Arrested Development...
as Jennifer Kelliho - Patrick MuldoonPatrick MuldoonPatrick Muldoon is an American actor.-Early life:Muldoon was born in San Pedro, California, the son of Deanna, a homemaker, and William Patrick Muldoon II, a personal injury lawyer. He is of Irish descent on his father's side and of Croatian descent on his mother's side...
as Steven - Ann CusackAnn Cusack-Early life:Cusack was born in Brooklyn, New York, the sister of actors Joan, Bill, John and Susie. Her mother, Nancy, is a former mathematics teacher and political activist. Her father, Dick Cusack, was an actor, producer, and writer...
as Dr. Reston - Shaun ToubShaun ToubShaun Toub is an Iranian-American film and television actor. He is perhaps best known for his role as Farhad in the 2004 movie Crash, as Rahim Khan in the movie The Kite Runner, and as Yinsen in the movie Iron Man.-Personal life:...
as Doctor
Box office
Stigmata, produced on a $29 million budget, premiered at the box office in the number one position, earning $18.3 million in its first weekend, becoming the first film in five weekends to outgross The Sixth SenseThe Sixth Sense
The Sixth Sense is a 1999 American psychological thriller film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. The film tells the story of Cole Sear , a troubled, isolated boy who is able to see and talk to the dead, and an equally troubled child psychologist who tries to help him...
at the box office. In the United States, Stigmata earned $50,046,268. Internationally the film earned $39,400,000 for a total world wide gross $89,446,268.
Critical response
The film received relatively poor reviews; Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
gives the film a score of 21% approval rating at, based on 89 reviews (19 positive, 70 negative).
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
called it "possibly the funniest movie ever made about Catholicism — from a theological point of view."