1. Plot

2. Cast

3. Production

4. Release
    Home media 

5. Reception
    Box office  Critical response  Accolades 

6. Controversy

7. See also

8. References

9. External links

• Joel Silver
• Susan Downey
• Leonardo DiCaprio
• Jennifer Davisson Killoran

• Vera Farmiga
• Peter Sarsgaard
• Isabelle Fuhrman
• C. C. H. Pounder
• Jimmy Bennett

• Dark Castle Entertainment
• Appian Way Productions
• Studio Babelberg Motion Pictures^[1]
• StudioCanal^[1]

• Warner Bros. Pictures
• Kinowelt Filmverleih {{small|(Germany)}}

• United States^[2]
• Canada^[2]
• Germany^[2]
• France^[2]

Orphan is a 2009 psychological horror film directed by Jaume Collet-Serra and written by David Leslie Johnson from a story by Alex Mace. The film stars Vera Farmiga, Peter Sarsgaard, Isabelle Fuhrman, C. C. H. Pounder and Jimmy Bennett. The plot centers on a couple who, after the death of their unborn child, adopt a mysterious 9-year-old girl.

The film is an international co-production between the United States, Canada, Germany and France. It was produced by Joel Silver and Susan Downey of Dark Castle Entertainment, and Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Davisson Killoran of Appian Way Productions. Principal photography for the film took place in Canada, in the cities of St. Thomas{{dn|date=April 2019}}, Toronto, Port Hope, and Montreal.

Orphan was released theatrically in the United States on July 24, 2009 by Warner Bros. Pictures. Although the film received mixed reviews, Fuhrman's performance was lauded and positively received, with some critics compared her performance as Esther to that of Linda Blair in The Exorcist and Patty McCormack in The Bad Seed.^[4] It grossed $78 million worldwide against a $20 million budget.

Plot

Kate and John Coleman's marriage is strained after their third child, Jessica, was stillborn. The loss is particularly hard on Kate, who is also recovering from alcoholism. They decide to adopt a 9-year-old Russian girl, Esther, from the local orphanage, whom John meets while she is painting. While Kate and John's 5-year-old deaf-mute daughter Max embraces Esther almost immediately, their 12-year-old son Daniel is less welcoming and rude towards her.

Kate begins to develop a strong mother-daughter bond with Esther, she teaches her piano and reconciles with John. One night, John and Kate reflect on their lives since adopting and how Esther is doing. They begin to undress and kiss passionately, and then proceed to have intercourse. John is happy to have their marriage strengthened again while Kate hopes to become pregnant again and bring another new baby into their extended family. However Esther walks in, interrupting the moment. Kate soon becomes suspicious when Esther expresses far more knowledge of sex than expected of a child her age, but John tells her not to worry about it. Soon, Esther demonstrates some hostile behavior, such as killing an injured pigeon and injuring a classmate at the park, to which Kate becomes suspicious of Esther. When the head of the orphanage, Sister Abigail, warns Kate of bad things happening when Esther's around, Esther kills Sister Abigail with a hammer and pushes her body into a ditch and hides the evidence in Daniel's treehouse. Esther having caught Daniel spying on her as she left the treehouse, she interrogates him and threatens to kill him if he mentions anything to his parents. Kate becomes further convinced something is wrong with Esther, but John doesn't believe her. When John suggests Esther to do something nice for Kate, she brings her a bouquet of flowers intentionally from Jessica's grave, angering Kate and causing her to grab Esther's arm.

Later that night, Esther purposely breaks her arm and frames the injury on Kate from grabbing her arm earlier. The next day, Esther releases the brake in the car, causing it to roll into oncoming traffic with Max inside. When Esther points out the wine bottle she found of Kate's, John threatens her with divorce and leaving with the kids. Kate discovers that Esther came from a mental hospital in Estonia and that the orphanage Esther claims she was from has no records of her. When Daniel learns about Sister Abigail's death from Max and searches the treehouse, Esther sets it on fire causing Daniel to fall and be knocked unconscious after trying to escape. Esther attempts to kill him but is stopped by Max. While Daniel is in the hospital, Esther tries to kill him again but he is revived. Kate realizes what Esther did and attacks her, but she is restrained and sedated.

That night, Esther attempts to seduce a drunk John, which causes him to realize that Kate was right. Kate gets a call at the hospital about Esther from Dr. Varava, and learns that she is not a 9-year-old child at all. She is 33-year-old Leena Klammer, she has hypopituitarism, a condition that stunted her physical growth and caused proportional dwarfism, and has spent most of her life posing as a little girl. Kate also learns that Leena has murdered at least seven people, including the last family that adopted her after failing to seduce the husband, and has been hiding scars on her neck and wrists from trying to break out of a straitjacket. Meanwhile, Leena, removes her disguise and proceeds to kill John, which Max witnesses. Leena grabs a gun and attempts to shoot at Max in the greenhouse, but Kate breaks through the roof and lands on top of her.

Kate and Max escaped to a near frozen pond, unaware that Leena is pursuing them. Leena attacks Kate, knocking Kate's gun out of her hand and hurls them both onto the ice. Max tries to shoot at Leena, but shatters the ice, causing Leena and Kate to fall into the water. Kate partially climbs out of the pond, with Leena clinging to her legs. Leena hides a knife behind her back and, reverting to her little-girl persona, begs Kate not to let her die. Kate angrily responds that she is not her mother and viciously kicks Leena in the face, breaking her neck and letting her sink into the pond. Max and Kate are met by the police moments after.

Cast

• Vera Farmiga as Kate Coleman
• Peter Sarsgaard as John Coleman
• Isabelle Fuhrman as Esther
• C. C. H. Pounder as Sister Abigail
• Jimmy Bennett as Daniel "Danny" Coleman
• Margo Martindale as Dr. Browning
• Karel Roden as Dr. Värava
• Aryana Engineer as Maxine "Max" Coleman
• Rosemary Dunsmore as Barbara Coleman
• Genelle Williams as Sister Judith
• Lorry Ayers as Joyce
• Brendan Wall as Detective
• Jamie Young as Brenda
• Landon Norris as Austin
• Mustafa Abdelkarim as Trevor

Production

Release

Orphan had its world premiere in Westwood, Los Angeles on July 21, 2009. The following day, it screened at the Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal, Canada. The film was released theatrically in North America on July 24, 2009. It was then released in the United Kingdom on August 7, 2009 by Optimum Releasing.

Home media

Orphan was released on DVD and Blu-ray on October 27, 2009 in the United States by Warner Home Video and in the United Kingdom on November 27, 2009 by Optimum Releasing. The DVD includes deleted scenes, and one alternate ending. The opening previews also contain a public service announcement describing the plight of unadopted children in the United States and encouraging domestic adoption.

Reception

Box office

The film opened in the 4th spot at the box office, making a total of $12,770,000, behind G-Force, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and The Ugly Truth. The film has since grossed a total of $78,337,373.^[3][7]

Critical response

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 55% approval rating based on 148 reviews, with an average rating of 5.5/10. The site's consensus reads, "While it has moments of dark humor and the requisite scares, Orphan fails to build on its interesting premise and degenerates into a formulaic, sleazy horror/thriller."^[8] The film also earned a 42 out of 100 rating on Metacritic, based on 25 reviews, indicating "mixed to average reviews".^[9]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave Orphan 3.5 stars out of 4, writing: "You want a good horror film about a child from hell, you got one."^[10] Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle also gave a positive review, commenting: "Orphan provides everything you might expect in a psycho-child thriller, but with such excess and exuberance that it still has the power to surprise."^[11] Todd McCarthy of Variety was less impressed, writing: "Teasingly enjoyable rubbish through the first hour, Orphan becomes genuine trash during its protracted second half."^[12] Manohla Dargis of The New York Times wrote: "Actors have to eat like the rest of us, if evidently not as much, but you still have to wonder how the independent film mainstays Vera Farmiga and Peter Sarsgaard ended up wading through Orphan and, for the most part, not laughing."^[13] Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a D+ score, noting: "Orphan isn't scary – it's garish and plodding."^[14] Keith Phipps from The A.V. Club wrote: "If director Jaume Collet-Serra set out to make a parody of horror film clichés, he succeeded brilliantly."^[15] Although the film received mixed reviews, Fuhrman's performance was lauded and positively received.

Accolades

Controversy

The film's content, depicting a murderous adoptee, was not well received by adoption groups.^[16] The controversy caused filmmakers to change a line in one of their trailers from: "It must be difficult to love an adopted child as much as your own," to:"I don't think Mommy likes me very much."^[17] Melissa Fay Greene of The Daily Beast commented: "The movie Orphan comes directly from this unexamined place in popular culture. Esther's shadowy past includes Eastern Europe; she appears normal and sweet, but quickly turns violent and cruel, especially toward her mother. These are clichés. This is the baggage with which we saddle abandoned, orphaned, or disabled children given a fresh start at family life."^[18] There is a pro-adoption service message on the DVD, advising viewers to consider adoption.

See also

• Fictional portrayals of psychopaths
• List of films featuring the deaf and hard of hearing

References

External links

• {{IMDb title|1148204}}
• {{mojo title|orphan09}}
• {{rotten-tomatoes|10010658-orphan}}

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