Frighteningly tense and devastatingly sad: this is much more than a horror film

Rating: 9/10 (6 May 2008)

Director Juan Antonio Bayona's debut feature, the Orphanage, is a classic ghost story, frighteningly tense and hauntingly beautiful. Laura (Belen Rueda), a former inhabitant of the eponymous seaside orphanage, returns as an adult to her childhood home. Accompanied by her husband, Carlos (Fernando Cayo), and her young son, Simon (Roger Princep), she intends to re-open the old building as a care home for sick children. Soon, however, it appears that the former residents of the orphanage are haunting the building and the surrounding coastline. Simon claims to have made six new friends: the former residents of the orphanage. Then, suddenly, he vanishes without a trace.
In her desperation, Laura tries to unearth the murky history of the orphanage. She is drawn increasingly into the world of make-believe inhabited by her vanished son. The strands of the natural and the supernatural are expertly woven together in this film. As with Pan's Labyrinth (directed by Guillermo del Toro, the producer of the Orphanage), it is difficult to tell what is real and what exists only in the mind of the protagonist. Here, however, the mystery is greater still, as it is not only the child but also the adult who delves into the supernatural world.
Laura's belief in the supernatural nature of her son's disappearance is offset by the scepticism of her husband. This is most evident when she resorts to the aid of a spirit medium to try and her find her son. In an electrifyingly tense scene, the spirit medium, played by Geraldine Chaplin, attempts to contact the spirits within the orphanage; this is one of the highlights of the film.
Although billed as a horror film, The Orphanage contains only one truly grisly scene; it is the mystery and suspense which make this film such a frightening experience. The refusal to resort to cheap shock tactics and gore allows the human tragedy to come to the fore. Laura and Carlos's suffering is deeply moving and the final scenes are devastatingly sad.
The use of sound in The Orphanage is superb: the cooing of pigeons and the lapping of the sea are in stark contrast to the malevolent creaking of the old house and the disturbing echo of disembodied voices. Much of the soundtrack is suitably brooding, but the occasional surge encroaches on moments of human drama. The cinematography, on the other hand, is consistently excellent, capturing both the beauty of the shoreline setting, with its lighthouse and cliffs, and the imposing presence of the orphanage, looming into the sky.
The Orphanage is in many ways very close to The Others and Pan's Labyrinth, which are both excellent films. Despite the familiar elements, this is a distinctive work, and so far one of the finest films of 2008.