A woman discovers dark secrets hidden
within her cherished childhood home in the supernatural
drama THE ORPHANAGE, the feature film debut of acclaimed
young Spanish director Juan Antonio Bayona. A superbly
atmospheric and emotionally powerful tale of love, loss and
guilt, THE ORPHANAGE is the first film ever to be presented
by Academy Award®- nominated filmmaker Guillermo del Toro,
who also produced. Bayona and the gifted first-time
screenwriter Sergio Sánchez deliver an elegant, shivery
ghost story in the tradition of such
classics as THE INNOCENTS, THE HAUNTING and THE OTHERS as
they explore the shadowy places where human longing meets
the unknown and unknowable. Anchoring the film is the
fearless performance by its star, award-winning Spanish
actress Belén Rueda (THE SEA INSIDE), portraying a mother
desperate to rescue her family from the nightmare into which
she has
unwittingly led them. THE ORPHANAGE is a film about the
fragility of life, the agony of loss and the depth of a
mother’s love … PLEASE DO NOT REVEAL THE ENDING.
At an orphanage by the sea, a little girl named Laura has
spent the best years of her childhood nurtured by an
affectionate staff and surrounded by other orphans whom she
loves like brothers and sisters. Laura is adored by them in
return, and the uniformed boys and girls happily trail her
onto the property’s front lawn to play their favorite games.
When the day arrives for seven-year-old Laura to leave with
her new parents, the staff of the Good Shepherd Orphanage
delays breaking the news until the last possible moment.
They know the separation will be painful for everyone, and
that Laura’s friends will miss her terribly.
Thirty years later, Laura (Belén Rueda) returns to the
stately manor house that holds such a special place in her
heart. The orphanage was abandoned years ago; Laura and her
husband, Carlos (Fernando Cayo) plan to re-open it as a
center for sick and disabled children. It will be a place
where boys and girls -- including the couple’s beloved
seven-year-old Simón (Roger Príncep) -- can play freely in
the open air, enjoying the sunshine and the nearby beach.
In its years of solitude, however, the orphanage has
acquired a haunted, unhappy air. Simón, an inquisitive boy
with a vivid imagination, is initially frightened by his new
house and worries about the safety of his two imaginary
friends, Watson and Pepe. Laura patiently reassures her son,
sharing her own rosy memories of the Good Shepherd
Orphanage. Thus calmed, Simón begins to explore the building
and its environs. After playing in a surf-slicked beach cove
one day, Simón announces that he has befriended a little
boy. Like his other playmates, his new friend, Tómas,
appears only to him.
Simón’s circle of unseen friends quickly expands to include
five more boys and girls, who tell cryptic stories and
engage him in elaborate games that carry a suggestion of the
sinister Troubled, Laura allows herself to get sucked into
her son’s eerie world, which seems to resonate with a
far-away and disturbing echo of her own childhood
experiences.
As the opening day of the children’s center approaches,
tension grows among the family. Simón wants only to play
with his invisible friends, frustrating his parents. But
while Carlos believes he is merely acting out to get their
attention, Laura suspects that her son’s behavior is tied to
something deeper and darker concealed within the house’s
history. Then, the unthinkable: while parents and children
enjoy games and sweets at center’s opening party, Simón
insists on playing in his own private world … and
disappears. Convinced that her family’s survival is at
stake, Laura sets out to learn what happened at the
orphanage after she left. To the alarm of those she loves in
the here and now, Laura plunges headlong into the past --
and into an isolated netherworld where the dead reach out to
the living.
© PictureHouse. All
rights reserved
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