The Orphanage 2007 Film Analysis

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The Orphanage is a Spanish supernatural horror film that was released in the year 2007. The director of the film is J. A. Bayona, who did his best to make the film cinematography outstanding (López, 2018). Boyana is a Spanish film director who was born on May 9, 1975. He has directed several films that include the 2012 drama film “The Impossible,” 2016 fantasy drama named “A Monster Calls” and the 2007 horror film, “The Orphanage.” Besides, he is the director of the recent film produced in 2018, a science fiction adventure film, “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom,” which is the fifth installment of the film series named “Jurassic Park.” He has also directed several music videos and television commercials, and this implies that he is a professional and competent director (Fife, 2008).

The main characters in the cast of the film “The Orphanage” include; Belen Rueda who is a Spanish actress who is best known for her role as Lucia in the television series Los Serrano and Julia in The Sea Inside. She won a Goya Award both in “The Sea Inside” and “The Orphanage.” In this film, “The Orphanage,” she plays as Laura the wife of Carlos as well as the adoptive mother of Simon. Another major character is Fernando Cayo. He is a Spanish actor best known for his role in Money Heist as Luis Tamayo. In this film, he plays the role of Carlos, and therefore he is the husband to Laura and also the adoptive father to Simon.  

Roger Princep plays the role of Simon in the film “The Orphanage” and is the young adopted son to Carlos and Laura. He meets imaginary friends in the Orphanage and threatens to run away with them. Mabel Rivera is a Spanish actor from Galicia. She plays as Pilar in the Orphanage. She is the head police psychologist who comes to investigate the truth about Benigna. Montserrat Carulla is a Catalan actress. In the film, she plays the role of Benigna Escobedo, who is a former worker at the Orphanage and who identifies herself as a social worker.

Another character is Geraldine Chaplin. She is an English-American actress and the daughter of Charlie Chaplin. She began her career in dance and modeling and later turned her attention to acting to follow her father’s footsteps as an actor. In the Orphanage, she plays as Aurora, and she is the medium sought to help find Simon when the police unable to trace him. Andres Gertrudix plays as Enrique in the Orphanage, and he is the sound technician of Aurora.

Edgar Vivar is a Mexican actor and is remembered as Senor Barriga and his son Nono from El Chavo del Ocho. He is also known as El Botija from Los Caquitos and Chespirito. He has also played a role in the Mexican telenovela, “Amarte Asi” as Pedro. In the film “The Orphanage,” he plays the role of Professor Leo Balaban, and he is the man who connects Laura with Aurora and also directs the spirit session in her house. Finally, Oscar Casas plays the role of Tomas in the film. He is the deformed son of Benigma, who is claimed to have been befriended by Simon.

The film has other support staff who plays the role of creative staff and include the producers such as Mar Targarona, Joaquin Padro, and Alvaro Agustin. Sergio G. Sanchez directs the screenplay (Aymerich, 2008). The music is produced by Fernando Velazquez, while the director of cinematography is Oscar Faura. Finally, the film is edited by Elena Ruiz.

Regarding awards, “The Orphanage” was chosen as Spain’s nominee for the 2007 Academy Award for Best Foreign Film by the Spanish Academy of Films. However, the film did not end up as one of the five final nominees in the listed category. Also in Spain, “The Orphanage” was nominated for the 14th Goya Awards, which included Best Picture and ended up winning the award for the Best Art Direction, Best Makeup and Hair, Best Special Effects, Best Director of Production, Best Screenplay- Original, Best New Director and Best Sound Mixing (Sánchez, 2007). In Iran, “The Orphanage” won the Crystal Simorgh for the Best Director at the “Seeking the Truth” section of the 27th Fajr International Film Festival.   

“The Orphanage” was positively received after release, receiving a ten-minute ovation from the audience (Boehm, 2012). The film received an overall rating of 87% from Rotten Tomatoes, and this was based on 176 reviews, with an average of 7.4/10. According to critics, the film was praised for its lack of cheap scares, with Bill Goodykoontz noting, “Bayona never lets The Orphanage descend into cheap horror. The scares here are expertly done and, placed in the context of Laura’s state of mind, well-earned, perhaps even explainable (or not).” However, the film also received a negative criticism by Lacey claiming that at, “[the film’s] core, it seems intended as a sympathetic drama of a bereaved mother, who may have slipped into madness. What’s even more disquieting is the persistent undercurrent of exploitation – the mixture of grief and jarring shock effects and the pitiless use of a disfigured child as a source of horror.”

The film was initially released in Spain, where it was immensely successful. After the fourth day of release, “The Orphanage” had raised more than 8.3 million dollars from 350 screens, and this made it the second-highest-grossing debut ever for a Spanish film. In December 2007, “The Orphanage” was opened in limited release in the United States, and by January 11, 2008, the film had a wide release. In Mexico, the film “The Orphanage” was opened on January 25, 2008, and through the box office, it earned a total of 11 million dollars, making it one of the best-selling films (Ryan, 2010). The film spent a total budget of around 4 million dollars and made a huge return since it made more than 78.6 million dollars through the box office sales.

The film is named “The Orphanage” since it is a place where children without parents are taken care of and housed. Simon is an orphan and has been adopted by Laura and Carlos. Based on this, the title of the film is well-matched with the subject of the film. Therefore, Boyana, as the director, has tried his best to make the film a success in regard to the subject of orphaned children. Based on this, it was worth relating the film with the subject matter. One of the questions that the film might ask is whether children should be allowed for adoption or should be left for the Orphanage to take care of them. The question to this is that children should be left to the orphanages since most of the adoptive parents become abusive to their adopted children since they are not the biological parents. Besides, adopted children receive less love and affection from the adoptive parents. 

References

Aymerich, N. (2008). The Orphanage. Film Ireland, (123), 44.

Bayona, J.A. The Ophanage (El Orfanato) Retrieved from: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0464141/?ref_=ttfc_fc_ttBoehm, S. W. (2012). Traumatized subjects: horror film and the legacy of mass extermination in post-dictatorship Spain (Doctoral dissertation, UC San Diego).

Fife, L. (2008). The Orphanage (El Orfanato). Irish Gothic Journal, (4), 105.

López Díez, J. (2018). JA Bayona’s ecstatic truth.

Ryan, M. D. (2010). Australian cinema’s dark sun: the boom in Australian horror film production. Studies in Australasian Cinema, 4(1), 23-41.

Sánchez, S. G. The Orphanage (2007 film). Guillermo del Toro 1 Cronos (film) 8 Mimic (film) 11 The Devil’s Backbone 14 Blade II 18, 36.