The Orphanage (2007 film)
The Orphanage | |
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Spanish | El orfanato |
Directed by | J. A. Bayona |
Screenplay by | Sergio G. Sánchez[1] |
Produced by |
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Starring |
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Cinematography | Óscar Faura[1] |
Edited by | Elena Ruiz[1] |
Music by | Fernando Velázquez |
Production companies |
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Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures Spain[1] |
Release dates |
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Running time | 97 minutes[1] |
Countries | |
Language | Spanish |
Budget | €4.5 million[4] |
Box office | €65 million[4] |
The Orphanage (Spanish: El orfanato) is a 2007 gothic supernatural horror film directed by J. A. Bayona in his directorial full-length debut. The film stars Belén Rueda as Laura, Fernando Cayo as her husband, Carlos, and Roger Príncep as their adopted son Simón. The plot centers on Laura, who returns to her childhood home, an orphanage. Laura plans to turn the house into a home for disabled children, but after an argument with Simón, he goes missing. The film is an international co-production film between Spain and Mexico.
The film's script was written by Sergio G. Sánchez in 1996 and brought to the attention of Bayona in 2004. Bayona asked his long-time friend, director Guillermo del Toro, to help produce the film and to double its budget and filming time. The Orphanage is an international co-production between Spain and Mexico. Bayona wanted the film to capture the feel of 1970s Spanish cinema; he cast Geraldine Chaplin and Belén Rueda, who were later praised for their roles in the film.
The film opened at the
Plot
In Spain, a young girl named Laura García Rodríguez is adopted from an
During a party for the orphanage's opening, Laura and Simón argue, and Simón hides from her after she slaps him across the face in a fit of frustration, which she immediately regrets. While looking for him, she encounters a child wearing a sack mask who shoves her into a bathroom and locks her inside. When Laura escapes, she realizes that Simón is missing and is unable to find him. That night, Laura hears several loud crashes within the walls of the orphanage. Police psychologist Pilar suggests to Laura and Carlos that Benigna may have abducted Simón.
Six months later, Simón is still missing. While searching for him, Laura spots Benigna, (pushing a doll in a pram) who is then struck and killed by an ambulance. The police find evidence that Benigna worked at the orphanage, and that she had a son named Tomás, who also lived there but was kept hidden due to his facial deformity (with Laura seeing old footage of Tomás being made to remove his mask, presenting his face to the camera). A few weeks after Laura was adopted, the orphans stole the mask that Tomás wore to conceal his deformed face and damaged eye. Embarrassed, Tomás refused to leave his hiding place in a nearby sea cave, and the rising tide drowned him.
Laura asks for the assistance of a
Laura makes the orphanage look as it did thirty years ago and attempts to contact the children's spirits by playing one of their old games. The spirits lead her to the door of a hidden underground room. Inside is Simón's corpse, wearing Tomás' mask. Laura finally realizes what happened: while searching for Simón the night he disappeared, Laura moved pieces of construction scaffolding, blocking the entrance to the secret room. The crashes that night were caused by Simón trying to get out. He fell and fatally broke his neck (when he was knocked back by something ramming the secret door while he was standing by it).
Laura appears to take an overdose of sleeping pills. Then, apparently dying, she begs to be with Simón again and the children's spirits appear, (including an unmasked Tomás finally coming in to join the rest, no longer shy over his looks) with Simón among them. Simón tells Laura that his wish was for her to stay and take care of the orphans, she then happily tells them a story (as Tomás makes the others sit down next to him to listen). Sometime later, Carlos visits a memorial to Laura, Simón and the orphans. Carlos returns to the orphans' old bedroom and finds a medallion that he had given to Laura. He turns to look as the door opens, and he smiles.
Cast
- Belén Rueda as Laura García Rodríguez, the wife of Carlos and adoptive mother of Simón. Laura returns to the orphanage where she spent some of her youth to turn it into a home for disabled children. Mireia Renau portrays the younger Laura.
- Fernando Cayo as Carlos Sánchez Rivera, the husband of Laura and adoptive father of Simón.
- Roger Príncep as Simón Sánchez Rivera, the young adopted son of Laura and Carlos. Simón meets new imaginary friends in the orphanage and eventually threatens to run away with them.
- Mabel Rivera as Pilar, the head police psychologist who eventually discovers the truth of who Benigna really is.
- Montserrat Carulla as Benigna Escobedo, a former worker at the orphanage who identifies herself as a social worker. When she is seen young in the film, she is portrayed by Carol Suárez.[6] Production companies working with Bayona tried to urge him to keep this character alive until the end of the film.[7]
- Geraldine Chaplin as Aurora, the medium brought in to help find Simón when the police can't find him.
- Andrés Gertrúdix as Enrique, Aurora's sound technician.
- Edgar Vivaras Professor Leo Balabán, a parapsychology expert who puts Laura in contact with Aurora and directs the spirit session in her house.
- Óscar Casas as Tomás, the deformed, one-eyed son of Benigna now a ghost, who Simón claims to have befriended.
Production
Development
This was an international co-production film between Spain and Mexico. The first draft of the script of The Orphanage was written by
Bayona cut parts of the script, including the outcome of the other orphanage children, because he wanted to focus on the character of Laura and what happens to her.
Casting
During casting discussions between Bayona and del Toro, Bayona expressed a desire to see
Filming
Production on The Orphanage began on May 15, 2006 in
Release
The Orphanage
In Spain, the film was nominated for 14
In Iran, the film won Crystal Simorgh for Best Director at the "Seeking the Truth" section of the 27th Fajr International Film Festival.[26]
Home media
The Orphanage was released on DVD and
Remake
In 2007, New Line Cinema bought the rights to produce an English-language remake with Guillermo del Toro as producer.[25][30] On remakes, director Bayona noted that "The Americans have all the money in the world but can't do anything, while we can do whatever we want but don't have the money" and "The American industry doesn't take chances, that's why they make remakes of movies that were already big hits".[31] On August 4, 2009, Larry Fessenden was announced as the director of the American remake.[32] Fessenden later announced that he would not be involved with directing the remake, stating "Working on the script with Guillermo was a very exciting experience, but then I got into a casting miasma and that's where the thing is; I think they're gonna do it another way, actually. So I think I'm out of it. Hopefully they'll still use my script, but I'm not sure I'm directing it anymore".[33] In January 2010, Mark Pellington replaced Larry Fessenden as director of the project.[34]
On August 5, 2011, Guillermo del Toro stated that the remake would reflect his original vision for the film, and that it had been planned even when the first version was in production. "Even when we produced the Spanish movie, I had intended to remake it because we had a very different screenplay that, because of money and time, got turned into the movie you saw – which is great, but there was this other structure for the original script that I wanted to try. So even before we shot the first film it was an economic decision, a pre-existing creative decision, to change it." Del Toro also praised the new film's director. "We have Mark Pellington attached as director – I'm a big fan of his The Mothman Prophecies and his video work – and we are out to actors, so we're hoping to get things going soon."[35] On August 30, 2011, it was reported that American actress Amy Adams was in talks to star as Laura, the main character, who was played by Belén Rueda in the original film. It was also stated that the current incarnation of the remake screenplay had been written by Larry Fessenden and Sergio G. Sánchez, the sole writer of the original film.[36]
Reception
Critical response
The examples and perspective in this section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. (September 2018) |
The Orphanage was received very well by American critics on its original release. The film has an 87% approval rating on
Critics praised the film for its lack of cheap scares. Film critic for the
A negative review came from Lacey of
The Orphanage listed as one of the top 10 best films of 2007 by several critics, including Lawrence Toppman of the
Accolades
Year | Award | Category | Nominee(s) | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2008 | 22nd Goya Awards | Best Film | Nominated | [49] | |
Best Actress | Belén Rueda | Nominated | |||
Best Supporting Actress | Geraldine Chaplin | Nominated | |||
Best Original Screenplay | Sergio G. Sánchez | Won | |||
Best New Actor | Roger Príncep | Nominated | |||
Best New Director | J. A. Bayona | Won | |||
Best Editing | Elena Ruiz | Nominated | |||
Best Art Direction | Josep Rosell | Won | |||
Best Production Supervision | Sandra Hermida | Won | |||
Best Sound | Xavi Mas, Marc Orts, Oriol Tarragó | Won | |||
Best Special Effects | David Martí, Montse Ribé, Pau Costa, Enric Masip, Lluís Castells, Jordi San Agustín | Won | |||
Best Costume Design | María Reyes | Nominated | |||
Best Makeup and Hairstyles | Lola López, Itziar Arrieta | Won | |||
Best Original Score | Fernando Velázquez | Nominated | |||
17th Actors and Actresses Union Awards | Best Film Actress in a Leading Role | Belén Rueda | Nominated | [50][51] | |
Best Film Actress in a Minor Role | Geraldine Chaplin | Won | |||
13th Forqué Awards | Best Film |
Won | [52] | ||
21st European Film Awards | Best European Film | Nominated | [53][54] | ||
Best European Actress | Belén Rueda | Nominated | |||
Best European Cinematographer | Óscar Faura | Nominated | |||
Best European Composer | Fernando Velázquez | Nominated | |||
2009 | 57th Silver Condor Awards |
Best Ibero-American Film | Nominated | [55][56] |
Soundtrack
El Orfanato | |
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Rhino |
In 2007, the
Track listing
All music is composed by Fernando Velázquez
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Prólogo" | 2:32 |
2. | "Créditos" | 1:07 |
3. | "Una luz mágica" | 1:22 |
4. | "El juego del tesoro" | 1:55 |
5. | "Un día de fiesta" | 4:38 |
6. | "Atropello" | 1:54 |
7. | "Tomás" | 2:10 |
8. | "Dos kilillos" | 2:03 |
9. | "Una regresión" | 4:53 |
10. | "Crea, entonces verá" | 2:19 |
11. | "Sola en la casa" | 3:31 |
12. | "La Casita de Tomás" | 5:00 |
13. | "Reunión y final" | 3:59 |
14. | "Créditos finales" | 4:41 |
15. | "Propuesta inicial (Maqueta)" | 2:21 |
16. | "Tema Principal (Coro)" | 3:01 |
See also
- List of ghost films
- List of horror films of 2007
- List of Spanish films of 2007
- List of submissions to the 80th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film
- List of Spanish submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
References
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External links
- The Orphanage at IMDb
- The Orphanage at AllMovie
- The Orphanage at Box Office Mojo
- The Orphanage at Rotten Tomatoes
- The Orphanage at Metacritic
- The Orphanage in Encyclopedia of Contemporary Spanish Film. Eds. Alex Pinar and Salvador Jimenez Murguia. Rowman & Littlefield, 2018