'Exorcism of Emily Rose' strays far from the 'true story'

Friday, September 9, 2005

By SEAN AXMAKER
SPECIAL TO THE POST-INTELLIGENCER

"This film is based on a true story," insists the opening credits, the better to stamp this unusual marriage of exorcism thriller and courtroom drama with the seal of seriousness. The claim loses some of its credibility, however, as the secular story is visited by dark forces, nocturnal hauntings, divine intervention and one abrupt shock that feels lifted right out of "The Omen" and its ilk.

MOVIE REVIEW

THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE

DIRECTOR: Scott Derrickson

CAST: Laura Linney, Tom Wilkinson, Campbell Scott, Jennifer Carpenter

RUNNING TIME: 118 minutes

RATING: PG-13 for thematic material, including intense/frightening sequences and disturbing images

GRADE: C+

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"Inspired by" is a more accurate description. The real-life case, which marked the last time the Catholic Church officially recognized a case of demonic possession and sanctioned an exorcism rite, involved a girl named Anneliese Michel in Germany. It ended in her death in 1976 and her parents and priests were put on trial for negligent manslaughter.

"Emily Rose" reimagines the incident in contemporary America, with a small-town girl from a devout family gripped by what is diagnosed by doctors as epilepsy and psychosis, and by her local priest (Tom Wilkinson, his American accent slipping all over the place) as possession.

The genuinely spooky beginning is a triumph of eerie imagery (the visualization of Emily's visions -- eyeballs of passers-by liquefy and run black down their ghoulish faces -- is goose-bump weird) and the squishy, creepy-crawly soundtrack. But the film wants to have it both ways.

The prosecution (Campbell Scott, wasted in a banal part) provides a compelling, logical case. But he's not just battling the shoddy, unconvincing defense mounted by the agnostic defense lawyer (Laura Linney, whose cool intelligence is all that keeps her character from looking like a fool). Director Scott Derrickson loads the film with flashbacks tweaked with horror-movie hysteria, as if sharing "the real story."

It's a pretense of even-handedness. The true story has been reduced to a case for faith. It merely sacrifices all reason to get there.

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