For a lesson on just how
crass and vulgar American films can get, try a double feature of The
Exorcism Of Emily Rose and the German drama Requiem. Both films are based on
the most famous demon-possession case on record, and they hinge to varying
degrees on the "is she or isn't she?" question, but their approach to the
material contrasts so dramatically that it's hard to remember that they're
telling the same story. A jarring mix of flash-cut shocks and insipid courtroom
drama, Emily Rose
frames the case as the Scopes Monkey Trial revisited, a stark example of science
failing to account for religious phenomena. Though its heroine's mysterious
seizures and blackouts are terrifying in the way they undermine her quest for
self-determination, Requiem isn't a horror movie so much as a thwarted
coming-of-age story, like Carrie without the bloody reckoning.
Meanwhile, in Requiem, Sandra Hüller gives a
committed, mesmerizing performance that recalls Emily Watson in Breaking The
Waves.
Her character, a young woman from a deeply religious background, yearns to go
to college. Over the objections of her forbidding mother (Imogen Kogge), who
worries that her crippling "spells" will resurface, Hüller's gently sympathetic
father (Burghart Klaussner) encourages her to
follow her ambitions, in spite of his concerns about her health. Though it
takes the awkward Hüller some time to acclimate to college life, she forges a
strong friendship with former classmate Anna Blomeier, and even finds a
boyfriend. Yet old demons literally resurface when she begins to experience
frightening supernatural spells, linked to an inner repulsion with religious
artifacts. After she consults her priest and others within the church, they
determine that she's a candidate for exorcism.
Director Hans-Christian
Schmid doesn't come to any hard conclusions about Hüller's malady, beyond the
obvious suggestion that they may be a psychosomatic symptom of her upbringing.
Unlike Emily Rose, Requiem
chooses to leave the demon-possession angle ambiguous while focusing on the
issue of choice and how much control its heroine has over her life. While
Schmid's naturalistic style seems overly drab and conventional at times, his
refusal to exploit the story's supernatural elements grants this young woman
complexity and dignity. By the beautiful conclusion, it's clear that the devil
may be inside her or he may not, but she has some say over her possession.