Stigmata 1999

(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0145531)
Directed by Rupert Wainwright and starring Patricia Arquette ...(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0145531)
Directed by Rupert Wainwright and starring Patricia Arquette and Gabriel Byrne.
The film follows the conflict between Frankie (Patricia Arquette), an atheist Pittsburgh hairdresser who exhibits true stigmata, and Father Andrew Kiernan (Gabriel Byrne), a former scientist and ordained Jesuit priest who, as part of the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints, investigates miracles for the Vatican.
The movie is loosely based on the discovery of the Gospel of Thomas and a verse therein (77: Jesus said: I am the light that is over them all. I am the All; the All has come forth from me, and the All has attained unto me. Split a piece of wood and I am there. Raise up the stone, an ye shall find me there.) ; a document which the Vatican and most other Christians have declared as being the product of a heretical Gnostic group.
The film was controversial for its characterization of Vatican senior clergy as ruthlessly attempting to kill an innocent
woman. Also controversial was the blossoming romance between the two main characters - one of whom is a priest. Another factor was the special effects, which appeared to make the manifestation of The Holy Stigmata border on demonic possession. Even the pictorial image on the promotional one sheet owes much to the one used for the film The Exorcist, a film about possession by the Devil.

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