Dir: Jaume Collet-Serra, USA/Canada/Germany/France, 2009, 123 mins
Cast: Vera Farmiga, Peter Sarsgaard, Isabelle Fuhrman, CCH Pounder
Review by Dave Hall
This is a real nerve-stretcher of a horror-thriller, refreshingly old-fashioned in its reliance on tension and psychological undercurrents, and given some real heft by universally strong performances. If one or two of the setpieces might seem clunkily over-familiar, and the closing scenes degenerate into stalk and slash histrionics, it’s mostly dark and disturbing in ways that count. And it’s set in winter: often the bringer of shivery chills.
At its heart, Orphan is a cuckoo-in-the-nest story. As the film opens, wealthy, professional couple Kate and John Coleman (Farmiga, Sarsgaard) are grieving the recent stillbirth of their third child. Driven by their loss, they decide to adopt a child from a local orphanage, and find themselves charmed by the remarkable poise of 9-year old Russian Esther (Fuhrman), a gifted painter with ribbons round her neck and wrists and a past shrouded in mystery. Before long, the family is starting to fall apart, as Esther skilfully rekindles hidden resentments between John and Kate, leads her little sister Max astray, and puts the frighteners on new brother Daniel. And then the claw hammers come out…
The first thing to say is that Fuhrman is remarkable as Esther; much of the film’s power depends on her ability to switch credibly from dimple-cheeked to demonic at the drop of a pigtail, and she never falters. Farmiga is equally good as the mother who doesn’t quite know what she’s brought home, but whose guilt at past failures stymies her ability to act – though the plot relies on the over-familiar contrivance of a stodgy, super-rational husband who doesn’t notice until too late that implements are gradually disappearing from his tool shed.
Director Collet-Serra cleverly makes childhood icons (the playground, the treehouse) integral to his setpieces, at the same time wryly undercutting horror movie conventions – sometimes a closing fridge door is just a closing fridge door, after all. The first half generates a fair level of unease, as Esther lurks in the shadows, physically and metaphorically, and the family’s descent into meltdown is well-paced and skilfully handled. But, fatally, Basil Exposition makes an appearance in the second half, and the film’s doozy of a surprise twist is clumsily handled. A phone call to a worried looking doctor in some Eastern European asylum doesn’t really cut the mustard, if you want to sock it to the audience.
That’s nit-picking, though. It’s good to see a horror movie that doesn’t demand the ritual sacrifice of teenage flesh, and which relies instead on nuance, solid acting and dark humour to get under your skin. Watch out for Fuhrman too – in every sense.
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