Orphan

Orphan

After losing their baby, a married couple adopt 9-year old Esther, who may not be as innocent as she seems.

  • Released: 2009-07-24
  • Runtime: 123 minutes
  • Genre: Horror, Mystery, Thrillers
  • Stars: Vera Farmiga, Peter Sarsgaard, Isabelle Fuhrman, CCH Pounder, Jimmy Bennett, Margo Martindale, Karel Roden, Aryana Engineer, Rosemary Dunsmore, Jamie Young, Lorry Ayers, Brendan Wall, Genelle Williams, Mustafa Abdelkarim, Landon Norris, Julien Elia, Leni Parker, Gemma James Smith, Pia Ajango, Matthew Raudsepp, Sugith Varughese, Luis Oliva, Ferelith Young, Andrew Shaver
  • Director: Jaume Collet-Serra
 Comments
  • deblingerl - 27 May 2024
    Super creepy
    What carries this film is a certain original, gothic slant on a familiar genre. There are many familiar plot and suspense tropes typical of this genre, but the story is intelligent and well thought out, induces genuine empathy for the main character of the mother, and provides a credible emotional logic. These elements allow for a kind of two-fold effect where the viewer can become engrossed in the story and characters as an adult drama involving adoption and the psychological/emotional factors involved in that, as well as a scare and thrill ride.

    The screenplay expertly and ghoulishly plays on the risks and mysteries of adoption by conjuring up a peculiarly dark, murky, and original scenario. The title character is uniquely multidimensional in her creepiness. I felt at first like the story was unnecessarily sketchy, jerky and cryptic in the beginning, but then came to feel that this approach served an important purpose in the overall effect, mirroring the distressed emotional state of the parents as they kind of blindly blunder into adoption. The pacing is really good, and a sense of suspense and discovery/revelation is maintained to the very end.
  • groundzero-273-397110 - 29 October 2023
    Vera Farmiga has the leading role which got me interested, but the movie itself is very illogical and stupid and differs a lot from the real story.
    I'm watching Orphan for the first time in 2023 and discover that Vera Farmiga has the leading role as Kate, and that got me interested. She was excellent. Isabelle Fuhrman as Esther did a good job as well as a child actress. The story is unique and interesting, especially when the twist comes at the end of the movie. But that's the only good things about this movie.

    The other child actors weren't very good, and the dialogue was very poor for the most part. The directing was also a bit off at times, with quick and strange changes of camera angles. The music throughout the film was also quite strange and didn't really fit.

    While it's a good twist at the end, the road to it was pretty illogical. Peter Sarsgaard's character John, Kate's husband, really got on my nerves. He was really stupid throughout the whole movie. He was ready to leave his wife for Esther whom they have just adopted. He believes in Esther more than his own children, which was very strange. And the whole adoption process with Esther, how she managed to get adopted, was also illogical considering where she came from. It was also very illogical how quickly the hospital staff were ready to tranquilize Kate in a regular hospital...

    I know this movie is based on a true story, but remember it's just BASED on a true story. Because this story is very different from the real story.

    This is a one time watch for me. This is not a movie I feel like watching again.