Film review: The Exorcism Of Emily Rose

This week's film review is the 2005 supernatural horror crime drama film The Exorcism Of Emily Rose directed by Scott Derrickson. The film stars Laura Linney, Tom Wilkinson, Campbell Scott, Jennifer Carpenter, J. R. Bourne, Mary Beth Hurt, Henry Czerny and Shohreh Aghdashloo.

Before I go further I will say that there will be spoilers, so if you intend to watch the film and don't like spoilers wait to see the film first.

Erin Bruner (Laura Linney), an ambitious lawyer seeking to become a senior partner in her law firm, takes the case of Father Richard Moore (Tom Wilkinson), a Catholic diocesan priest charged with negligent homicide following an attempted exorcism of 19-year-old student Emily Rose (Jennifer Carpenter). The archdiocese what Moore to plead guilty but he refuses pleading not guilty, during the trial witness statements are visualised via flashbacks. Prosecutor Ethan Thomas (Campbell Scott) interrogates several doctors and neurologists to establish a medical cause for Emily's death, particularly epilepsy and schizophrenia. After Emily drops out of college and returns to her parents home, while being treated with epilepsy and psychosis drugs, Moore is consulted when her condition fails to improve he soon concludes Emily is possessed by a demon. Moore conducts an exorcism that fails, he believes the medication Emily is on paralysed her brain activity keeping the demon out of reach.

Bruner begins experiencing mild supernatural phenomena at home and Moore warns her that she may be a target due to her involvement in the case and reveals he has also experienced similar things. Bruner puts anthropologist Sadira Adani (Shohreh Aghdashloo) on the stand to testify about spiritual possession from various cultures, supporting Moore's case. Bruner is given a cassette tape by the doctor who attended the exorcism, Moore presents the tape of the exorcism as evidence, the doctor is killed in an accident preventing him from testifying to support the tape. Bruner's boss threatens to fire her if she puts Moore on the stand again but despite this she allows him to tell the rest of Emily's story. Moore reads a letter that Emily wrote before she died, the morning after the exorcism she was visited by the Virgin Mary and offered the choice to ascend to heaven but she chose to stay and endure her suffering, later receiving stigmata on her hands, Thomas dismisses this as self inflicted injuries. The jury reaches a verdict of guilty but ask the Judge to give a sentence of time served which she accepts meaning Moore is free to go. Bruner is offered a partnership in her firm but declines, she later visits Emily's grave with Moore and he states that Emily will eventually be declared a saint.

This was a very interesting film, having the situation of a court case into a death from a supposed demonic possession which included an exorcism. I really enjoyed the concept of telling the story of the possession and the court case simultaneously using flashbacks at key moments, it definitely added to the suspense of the story line and gave a full picture of the case. The story flowed really well allowing you to build the picture at the same time as the jury and make your own decisions as to whether you think the priest is guilty or not, obviously the film paints the picture in the favour of Father Moore but there is enough information that you can disagree. I think it was really well done with a lot of medical and spiritual arguments that showed a lot of research was done to make it authentic and allow both viewpoints to have clear explanations. I really liked that Erin Bruner was an agnostic, meaning she is on the fence with whether God exists, it gave her the ability to look at the case from an open view not for or against religion but accepting either is an option and as the film goes on she is passionate that Father Moore was not guilty and everything he did was to save Emily, it just so happened that it was an impossible task. 

The acting in this film was also really good, the stand out being Jennifer Carpenter as Emily Rose, she gave a brilliant performance as the scared young woman and also as a violent demon possessed woman, with the added fact that most of the contortions she did were unaided because she is just that flexible apparently. Then we come to the other main roles, Laura Linney plays Erin Bruner brilliantly and portraying the shift from ambitious lawyer aiming for her name on the door to a woman determined to prove the innocence of her client very convincingly, making you truly believe in the character. Tom Wilkinson also plays the role of Father Richard Moore very well showing the true conviction to tell Emily's story fully and protect the others on his side despite the outcome of the court case. 

Overall I really enjoyed this film and will watch it again, no doubt finding different things to build up the picture even more fully, definitely one to full fill both horror and legal drama needs in one.

My rating for The Exorcism Of Emily Rose is 7/10