I am most pleased to reveal that Jaume Collet-Serra’s Orphan recently ended a severely dry spell of horror film boredom. I am a horror junkie and nothing of late has been spine chillingly awesome. Gruesome … yes. Scary … sort of. Predictable … of course. Orphan is a psychological horror as opposed to the supernatural kind and the reason the film is successful is because it is a character-driven story that is played out exceedingly well by the cast.
The film’s protagonist is the Coleman family, consisting of parents Kate and John, and children Daniel and Max. The family is recovering from the loss of Kate and John’s third child, which was stillborn. Kate used alcohol as a coping mechanism and her addiction and recent recovery there from sets her up as untrustworthy – so naturally when things go seriously awry no one takes Kate’s suspicions seriously – in true horror form. The Coleman family is typical: close but flawed and thus easy for an audience to relate to. In order to fill the void ensuing from their loss, Kate and John decide to adopt a child. And in comes nine-year-old Esther. As the film progresses, Esther changes from sweet-natured Russian orphan to psycho child killer (ambiguity intended). An age old horror tactic is to take something innocent and twist it … and twist and twist until what is left is so disturbing that it is barely fathomable. The Bad Seed, The Omen and The Exorcist are cases in example. And Orphan does exactly that. It can be argued that the climactic reveal of Esther’s secret sort of undermines the whole child psycho thing, but it is an intellectual consideration for after the film rather than something that one would react to when watching it. Esther’s secret is frightening and yet unavoidably fascinating. The plot is scripted according to classic horror blueprint and the fact that it is somewhat formulaic is completely undermined by the brilliance of character and the psychological tension within the film.
Vera Farmiga’s portrayal of Kate Coleman as the grief-stricken, yet perceptive and persistent mom, is astute. The relationship between Kate and John Coleman (Peter Sarsgaard) is natural, as a result of a genuine affinity between the actors who are indeed friends. Aryana Engineer is brilliantly cast as deaf-mute Max, child to John and Kate. The relationship between Max and Esther is essential to the success of the horror and the revelation of Esther’s extreme psychosis. Max immediately bonds with Esther and idolises her in the way that a younger sister would look up to an older sister. Max’s childlike beauty and innocence are necessary: as the audience falls further in love with Max, so too does the audience grow to hate Esther, who is hell bent on corrupting little Max and destroying the Coleman family. Esther is played superbly by Isabelle Fuhrman. The thirteen year old actress shows a remarkable maturity and has an intelligent understanding of her character and what drives Esther’s actions and decisions. Fuhrman is able to evoke a sense of fear and disturbance with her presence; a brief look, a subtle gesture or an ambiguous tone of voice. Her relationship with her adoptive mother is also central to the revelation of Esther’s insidious nature. As with Max, the audience’s sympathies lie with Kate and as events unfold the audience will undoubtedly plunge into a realm of extreme frustration and anger as Esther manipulats her way out of each situation, with deadly duplicity.
Fuhrman’s evocative embodiment of Esther is the film’s foundation and Collet-Serra’s insightful directing has elicited an atmospheric horror film that outrages, sickens and terrorises – as a good horror should.
