Stigmata
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As a religious thriller, Stigmata has been branded in movie columns across the media as "the new Exorcist." However, such remarks seem to have benefited the popularity of the film, with people heading towards local cinemas in droves, with Stigmata as their number one choice. The parallels between the films are superficially obvious. The central theme is a person being inflicted with an unseen and powerful force, which takes control of their life. The victim is Frankie Paige (Patricia Arquette), the easy-living hairdresser from Pittsburgh. The day following a wild night out on the town and a passionate time with her boyfriend, Frankie receives some rosary beads, which unknowingly belong to a recently deceased priest from Mexico. Shortly after, while relaxing in the bath, she experiences the excellently shot wrath of the Stigmata, with bloody wounds to her wrists.
The initial sequence of Frankie's easy lifestyle, is a useful contrast to the formal investigation of supernatural occurrences, which takes place in a church in Mexico, by Andrew Kiernan (Gabriel Byrne). Kiernan has a contradictory position as a member of the Vatican, as his line of work requires him to provide scientific explanations of reported 'miracles'. However, when his science fails to provide an answer to the bloody tears from the statue of Mary and Frankie's poignant wounds, he turns to his spiritual side...