The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005)
Directed by Scott Derrickson
Written by Scott Derrickson, Paul Harris Boardman
Starring Laura Linney, Tom Wilkinson, Campbell Scott, Colm Feore, Jennifer Carpenter
Release Date September 9th, 2005
Published September 10th, 2005
The saying 'based on a true story' is an oft abused term in Hollywood. Case in point the new horror film/courtroom drama The Exorcism Of Emily Rose. The film is based on a true story however the story told in the film is not the true story. The film's creators, however, include a title card that claims the story is true. But the story told in the movie only vaguely resembles the true story that was its inspiration. Make sense?
Not much of this cross breed of TV's "Law & Order '' and the horror classic The Exorcist makes sense anyway so it's fitting that its origins should be so muddled. A shame though because with such a terrific cast The Exorcism of Emily Rose had the potential to be very good.
Oscar nominee Tom Wilkinson stars in Exorcism as Father Thomas Moore. Father Moore is on trial for the negligent homicide of a nineteen year old college student Emily Rose (Jennifer Carpenter), one of his parishioners. The story of how Emily came to be in Father Moore's care is part of an elaborate series of events that leads to one extraordinary trial.
Laura Linney is Erin Bruner, Father Moore's lawyer. An agnostic, Erin is on the lookout for a promotion at her big money law firm and takes on Father Moore's case with the hopes of a partnership. Erin is coming off another high profile case where she got a guy everyone thought was guilty off on a charge of murder. Now struggling with her conscience she finds herself defending Father Moore from charges that he allowed Emily Rose to die while he was in charge of her well being.
So how did Emily Rose die? There are two competing theories in the film. The first and most logical and rational is that Emily developed epilepsy that led to psychosis that caused her to have nightmarish visions and episodes of extreme behavior that included self-mutilation and violence towards her family and friends. Emily stopped eating and eventually starved to death.
However, according to Father Moore, Emily was not sick. Rather Emily was suffering from demonic possession. Satan and various other demons entered Emily's body, fought off the Father's attempt to exercise them and prevented Emily from eating. Campbell Scott plays the prosecuting attorney, Ethan Thomas who quickly makes a farce of the defense's case with simple logical questions and scientific medical testimony.
The trial aspect of Emily Rose is the film's biggest problem. The script saddles the beleaguered Laura Linney with a defense that is so patently ridiculous that she never had a chance of winning any audience member with an ounce of critical thinking ability. I don't want to give away what the defense is, one of the joys of the film is the derisive laugh one has at the expense of the poor lawyer who might think it could work. I will say that it would not have lasted two minutes on an episode of "Perry Mason" or even the light headed "L.A Law".
Campbell Scott as the prosecutor is terrific at presenting his side not merely with a dismissive cast of his eyes skyward while the defense presents its case, though that might have been all it would take to win over the audience. No, Scott also brings eloquence and cold hard reason to the role and looks very much like a real prosecutor. There is a moment during one of the defense witness testimonies where the prosecutor objects to a question and when asked what his objection is he replies "Oh I don't know, silliness", as if he were speaking for the audience.
For her part Laura Linney, one of my all time favorite actresses, can do very little with a role so poorly conceived. Given the defense as it is written in the script has absolutely no hope of convincing anyone and Linney is left to present it with as much dignity as possible and in that respect she made it work. She never allows herself to look as foolish as the script might make her seem.
The script is written by Paul Harris Boardman and director Scott Derrickson and is fascinating for how inept the courtroom scenes are and for how effective the flashbacks to the exorcism are. In the execution of the horror part of the film, Derrickson's direction is very strong as are the characters of Father Moore and Emily.
It's like watching two different movies at once.
The flashbacks to Emily in college where her strange visions and behavior begins are surprisingly strong. Never merely imitating The Exorcist, Director Scott Derrickson shows a great flair and style and brings some old school scares to this otherwise dreary flick. A scene late in the film set inside a barn in a heavy rainstorm is very effective in building tension, and is followed by another effective scene, a dream sequence, in which Emily is visited by the Virgin Mary.
Scenes of faces melting into demonic menace, black cloaked demons and blood dripping walls are all used to very cool effect and show that Derrickson knows how to direct a good horror movie. But when the scene shifts to the courtroom the film becomes laughable. The worst part is that there were many feasible opportunities to fix this aspect of the film with some simple courtroom logic. Any first year law student could have made a very strong case in Father Moore's favor. Instead the script opts for a defense that no one in their right mind would buy.
The courtroom drama is farce as are the non-flashback scenes outside the court as when Father Moore advises Erin to 'beware of the dark forces surrounding the case'. Oooh scary. There is also a supremely lame bit where Erin, like Emily and like Father Moore, continuously wakes up at 3:00 AM. This same clock bit was lame when it was used in the remake of Amityville Horror this past spring and in the Bob De Niro flick Hide and Seek back in January.
The film is based on a true story. In Germany in the late sixties a teenage girl became violently, mentally ill. Rather than treat her medically, which would have meant commitment to a mental hospital, the girl's family turned her over to the church which received permission from the Vatican to perform an exorcism. The girl died from starvation and the priests involved and the girl's parents were all tried for manslaughter.
That is a great basis for drama and horror and a logical examination of faith and the limits of science, something I'm sure The Exorcism Of Emily Rose was striving to convey. However, in executing this idea something was lost in the translation. We have half of a good movie and half of a ludicrous episode of Ally McBeal, only with fewer intentional laughs.
