Exceptional Thriller with a Deceptive Conclusion

Rating: 7/10 (23 October 2009)

Kate (Vera Farmiga) and John Coleman (Peter Sarsgaard) are rebuilding their marriage after a troubled relationship, since Kate had drinking problem but is under therapy with Dr. Browning (Margo Martindale) and has been sober for one year. Her addiction cost her job; a serious accident with their deaf-dumb daughter Maxine (Aryana Engineer); and the abortion of their stillborn baby Jessica and John had a love affair ten years ago. They decide to adopt a child and when they meet the nine year-old Russian girl Esther (Isabelle Fuhrman) at the St. Marina Orphanage, they immediately fall in love for the well-educated orphan. Max becomes close to Esther while her reluctant brother Daniel (Jimmy Bennett) does not welcome his newcomer stepsister. Sooner Kate feels that Esther is manipulative and has some disturbance and she believes it could be hormone or borderline personality disorder but John refuses to listen to his wife and the wounds in their marriage reopen. Kate calls Sister Abigail (CCH Pounder) in the orphanage and the sister advises Kate that Esther had been involved in many troubles in the past. When Sister Abigail visits Kate, Esther kills her with a hammer and is witnessed by the scared Max. When Kate goes further in the investigation of the past of Esther, she contacts the Saarne Institute, a mental hospital in Estonia, and discovers that the girl is not who she tells she is.
"Orphan" is an exceptional thriller and a must confess that while watching this movie, I committed the heresy of comparing it with "Rosemary's Baby" to my daughter. Unfortunate the commercial deceptive conclusion is an exaggerated collection of clichés. Kate calls the police while driving back home and hits the house with her car, in the beginning of a sequence of ridiculous scenes. The police arrive late in the usual cliché. Max shoots a gun in the lake nearby the house and no policeman listens. With an appropriate and realistic ending, this movie could have become a new classic of the psychological horror genre. Vera Farmiga has another fantastic performance and Isabelle Fuhrman and the débutant Aryana Engineer are awesome. It is amazing the lack of imagination of formulaic producers, writers and directors that prefer an easy solution with the usual clichés for an intriguing plot instead of daring in an non-commercial ending, like for example, Asians usually do. My vote is seven.
Title (Brazil): "A Orfã" ("The Orphan")