Although The Exorcism of Emily Rose is being sold as a latter-day Exorcist movie, complete with devilishly creepy imagery and a fresh-faced heroine whose body is contorted into ghastly shapes by her supposed possession, people who buy tickets will be surprised to find that much of the film is a courtroom drama.
The priest, who tried to exorcise the demons from the 19-year-old devout Catholic farmgirl without much success, is on trial for being negligent in not insisting that she seek medical help over his mix of chants and prayers and blessings.
Oh, there are some spooky images in this devil-made-me-do-it film, but those are all seen in flashback as the trial unfolds and, because they're in the past tense, lose some of their punch.
It's clear early on that Scott Derrickson, the director and co-writer (with Paul Harris Boardman), is trying for something beyond the usual horror movie scares, something a little more intelligent and down to earth. The Exorcism of Emily Rose ponders, but reaches no final conclusion, on whether people can really be possessed by demons or whether it's just a form of mental illness.
For one thing, Derrickson has Laura Linney, an intelligent actress who is up to the most demanding dramatic readings, as his star.
She plays Erin Bruner, who has been reluctantly assigned to defend the most reluctant witness of all, Father Richard Moore (Tom Wilkinson).
The Catholic Church, trying to downplay and de-sensationalize the exorcism aspects of the situation, doesn't want him to testify.
Father Moore isn't forthcoming in revealing to Erin major points that would assist him in his defense. For him, he hopes it will all boil down to a matter of faith.
Erin, an agnostic, doubts faith will help. Yet she does eventually come to believe that if she is successful in getting Father Moore freed, it will cap her career and make her a partner in her big-city law firm.
The courtroom scenes bristle with drama and there are lots of melodramatic surprises to shake things up, including a brief appearance by the Virgin Mary. Yet it's still a four-wall courtroom and so to make things really lively, there are many flashbacks to Emily Rose (Jennifer Carpenter), a pretty young woman who one night is bedeviled in her college dorm room.
In one of the film's most traumatic moments, Carpenter convincingly plays a rape scene that's surprisingly raw, even taking into consideration that Emily's violator is not seen.
Soon after, Emily sees creepy images in everything from a rainy windowpane to the suddenly nightmarish-looking faces of friends and even passersby. Because of her "possession," sometimes Emily's body is contorted into oddball positions. When some of these contorted images flashed on screen, the film's preview audience burst out laughing. This is not the kind of reaction a filmmaker wants in an exorcism movie.
Some doctors say Emily is suffering from epilepsy or psychosis or both. A lot of things in The Exorcism of Emily Rose look and sound downright nutty, including the doctors.
The stolid prosecuting attorney (Campbell Scott) prefers to look for the meaning of things in science, medicine and the real world, even though he professes to be a man of solid Protestant faith. Oddly, he finds himself at cross purposes with Erin, a non-believer.
Yet she grows increasingly open to the idea that there just might be something to all this devil business, especially when she's awakened at 3 a.m. more than once by strange sounds and occurrences.
We're told that 3 a.m. is held as the witching hour. And so, sure as clockwork, every time a clock flashes from 2:59 to 3:00 we know something frightening is about to happen.
Because Linney, Wilkinson and Scott play all this straight, one wants to buy in to The Exorcism of Emily Rose.
Wilkinson creates a rock solid man of unshakeable faith. Director Derrickson plays it seriously and there is that interesting conflict between the believer prosecutor and the non-believer defense attorney.
But Derrickson tries for a nobody-goes-home-unhappy ending that's a stretch. A final build-up moment prompts the audience to expect more than the quiet fadeout we eventually get. For all the bluster put into the movie's trailer, Emily Rose withers.
**1/2
The Exorcism of Emily Rose
Starring: Laura Linney, Tom Wilkinson, Campbell Scott, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Jennifer Carpenter, Colm Feore.
Rated: PG-13, contains violence, profanity, spooky images, adult themes.
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