Leap of Faith: William Friedkin on the Exorcist (Alexandre O. Phillippe, 2019, USA)

Leap of Faith: William Friedkin on the Exorcist (2019) is another film from Swiss documentarian Alexandre O. Phillippe, who has made a career from creating deep dives into genre cinema, particularly of the horror variety. Leap of Faith is essentially an extended monologue by William Friedkin discussing the inspiration behind and making of the seminal 1973 horror classic The Exorcist. Friedkin, who had a boundless energy even late into his life, was (if my estimation is correct) around 84 when this documentary was shot. You wouldn’t know it. Friedkin was sharp as ever, offering witty and insightful commentary throughout.

If there is a fault of Leap of Faith, it is that the film is unlikely to appeal to people who are not interested in the subject matter. But it is unclear if Phillippe is even making films for anyone other than the fans of the original films in questions. For Exorcist fans, Leap of Faith is a delight from start to finish. Yes, limiting it to Friedkin certainly limits the perspective, but there are plenty of other documentaries on The Exorcist phenomenon that feature other prominent figures in the film including Linda Blair and William Peter Blatty.

Friedkin is one of those rare directors who would be very easy to listen to a monologue for hours at a time. He was a wealth of knowledge, but also had a certain street-smart Chicago gruffness. In other words, he was a director from the era in which directors really had personalities (and faults, as is abundantly evident in the film from some of the tactics that Friedkin used on set). The film is most interesting when Friedkin is examining his own faith and relationship to the religious subject matter of the film, and it is interesting to see how his perspective evolved during the making of the film.

8/10