By the time the movie starts off, Emily Rose is already dead, and the priest who was attempting to exorcise the demon from her body is going into trial for negligent homicide. The prosecutor claims that Father Moore (Tom Wilkinson) coerced Emily Rose (Jennifer Carpenter) into stopping her medication for epilepsy and psychosis in order to perform a spiritual healing, and had Emily stayed on the medication, she would have gotten better.
Enter Erin Bruner (Laura Linney), a high paid lawyer from a firm hired by the church to protect Father Moore. Bruner takes the job, even though she doesn't really believe Moore's account of what happened, she does it in order to get a partnership at her law firm. When she first meets Moore, she is the stereotypical lawyer: cold, rigid and doesn't believe in her client, just finding the loopholes that will get him off. But as the movie progresses, and she (along with the viewers) learn more about what happened, and is still happening, and we see Bruner soften and become more open to the possibilities of faith and possession.
Throughout the movie, the events of Emily Rose's possible possession are recounted via testimonies on the stand. We learn from Emily's family and neighbors that she called, claiming something was after her. We hear from her doctors that she suddenly started having seizures and her hallucinations were a result of a mental breakdown.
It isn't long before Bruner realizes the only way they are going to win this case is if they can convince the jury that it is possible for Emily to have been possessed. Needless to say, this doesn't sit well with her bosses, but as Moore testifies, a seed of doubt might just have been planted in the hearts of the jury.
What is interesting about this film is that it can't help but make you examine your own beliefs. What if you were one of the jurors, and you heard the testimonies given, as well as a tape-recording of the exorcism itself. Would your beliefs be able to hold up to the type of scrutiny presented in this movie? And, what's always a nice twist is that this movie is based on a true story about a German woman who died in 1976.
The Exorcism of Emily Rose also has a few interesting featurettes. I especially enjoyed "Genesis of the Story" where Director Scott Derrickson and the writers talk about the amount of research that went into the making of this movie. The other featurettes were about casting the movie and coming up with the visual style of it.
While The Exorcism of Emily Rose won't appeal to everyone, I found the general subject matter compelling and enjoyed the way we learn about Emily Rose's last few days in the form of flashbacks. It was interesting to watch because throughout the movie, you know she won't survive the demonic attack, but you still hope she will.
