The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005)
–Once you’ve looked into the darkness I think you carry it with you for the rest of your life.
The Exorcism of Emily Rose inspires mixed responses from horror fans. Some think it terrifying and others not very scary because of its structure. It alternates between showing Emily Rose’s story and the trial of Father Moore, the priest who attempted to perform an exorcism upon her. This makes the film an unusual hybrid: half horror flick, half courtroom drama. The script is based upon the life of Anneliese Michel, a young German woman who died in 1976 after starving herself following multiple attempts at exorcism as well as the trial held after her death accusing her exorcist and parents of negligent homicide.
Such material takes a balanced hand. Luckily the film is anchored by two outstanding actors: Tom Wilkinson as Father Moore and Laura Linney as his defense lawyer, Erin Bruner. Both give subtle, restrained performances that firmly root the courtroom scenes in reality. Jennifer Carpenter also stands out as Emily Rose.
Erin Bruner is a hotshot lawyer for a prestigious law firm. After a spectacular success with a high profile case she is asked by the church to handle Father Moore’s legal difficulties. One problem, Father Moore will only accept her as his attorney if she promises to let him tell Emily Rose’s story while the church is adamant that under no circumstances is Moore to testify. Further, possibly supernatural, complications ensue as strange things start happening to Bruner that mirror events in Emily Rose’s life.
The courtroom scenes are taut and nicely paced while the flashbacks are reasonably scary and intense. The filmmakers deliberately try to keep the movie neutral on its position about Emily Rose. What happened to her was horrible, but was it the result of epilepsy or possession? No one seems to doubt that Father Moore is a good man who believed in what he was doing, but as one of the only people that Emily would listen to, shouldn’t he have made sure that she received medical attention before it was too late?
As in the earlier film, The Exorcist, the medical profession does not come off here in a heroic fashion. If Emily truly had epilepsy, doctors were still unable to help her in any significant fashion. If Emily was possessed, then the drugs that she was being given to treat a medical condition actually prevented her from fighting back from demonic attack and allowed her to be possessed. Once again, this speaks to our fears of being ill while science is unable to cure us as well as the terror of being out of control of our bodies, words or actions.
Listening to Father Moore’s speech at the end, part of which is quoted above, I was reminded of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “Young Goodman Brown.” Like The Exorcism of Emily Rose, “Young Goodman Brown” does not give concrete answers about whether its events were truly supernatural. As I teach in the Bible belt, many of my students have preferred to take that story on a literal basis. Personally, I think Hawthorne’s point was (whether literal or not) once you let yourself see evil, you’ll see it everywhere and in everyone since we are born sinners. Goodman Brown lets this idea poison his life and destroy his happiness. As Hawthorne says, “A stern, a sad, a darkly meditative, a distrustful, if not a desperate man did he become, from the night of that fearful dream.” It hurts to lose innocence and understand that there is evil in the world – yet is not also evil to allow that to destroy your joy and prevent you from seeing the good that is in the world as well? Ultimately, Father Moore is a more reasonable fellow than Brown. He feels that he has looked into the darkness and thus, will always be touched by it, yet he still sees the good in people, like Emily Rose and her family and Erin Bruner.
Whichever way you interpret this movie, it remains a well-crafted work. Oh, and before you dismiss the idea of exorcists in our modern 21st century world, consider this: The Washington Post reported in 2005 that in July of that year 350 practicing exorcists attended a congress in Poland. Just food for thought…
