# Orphan (film)

Orphan is a 2009 American horror/thriller film directed by Jaume Collet-Serra. The film centers on a couple who adopts a nine-year-old girl who is hiding a dark secret behind her sweet façade.

## Esther/Leena

* I don't think Mommy likes me very much. It must be hard to love an adopted child as much as your own.
* [Threatening Daniel] If I find out you're lying, I'll cut your hairless little prick off before you even know what it's for. Do you understand? [...] [Looks down on Daniel's pants] You pissed yourself.
* [to Max after Esther kills a bird] It's alright, it's in heaven now.
* [about to kill Daniel] Don't worry, you are going to heaven.
* [Holding a gun at Max] Do you want to play?
* [To Kate] It must be hard, having such an ear for music as you, with a son who is not interested and a daughter who can't even hear.
* [Holding Kate's diary] Makes very interesting reading... I read about why Max is deaf. How you were drunk and drove the car into the lake? If John hadn't been there, she'd be dead now.

## Dialogue

    [while Kate is preparing the food, Esther remain silent while John and Max are looking at her.]
    John: [while signing] Brenda's father says... that you pushed her.
    Esther: That's not true, we were just playing. I swear.
    [Kate serves the dinner while John pauses; Kate turns to Max.]
    John: Okay.
    Kate: [to Max, signing] And did you see what happened?
    Max: [signing back, but not speaking] She slipped.
    [Esther is getting ready for a bath; she locks the door]
    Kate: Esther, what are you doing?
    Esther: I always lock the door.
    Kate: Nope. We don't lock doors in this house.
    John: Kate... Kate. You can't get jealous of every woman that I talk to, right? It's been like ten years.
    Kate: What does that mean, "It's been ten years"? You say that like it, it, it actually means something. It's only been two years since you told me.
    John: You know how sorry I am; I just feel like I've earned a little trust here. I gave you a second chance.
    Kate: That's not fair... that's not fair.
    John: Let me get this straight: We can talk about my mistakes, but not yours?
    Kate: I was sick! You're an asshole who wanted to fuck somebody else!
    [As Esther walks to the door, she opens it and see Sister Abigail waiting.]
    Sister Abigail: Oh, hello Esther.
    Esther: What are you doing here?
    Sister Abigail: [smiles] May I come in?
    Sister Abigail: I'm afraid I may have made a mistake. There could be something wrong with Esther.
    John: What? What do you mean? You told us that you'd never had any trouble with her.
    Sister Abigail: I didn't. But trouble does have a way of finding her.
    Kate: What kind of trouble?
    Sister Abigail: Two girls get into a fight, there she is. Someone gets caught stealing, there she is again.
    John: So, does that mean-?
    Kate: [to John] John, just let her finish.
    Sister Abigail: After you told me about the girl in the playground, I called her old school. While she was there, there was a boy who fell with a pair of scissors in his hand and accidentally stabbed himself through the jaw. And Esther was there again.
    John: I don't understand. He accidentally stabbed himself.
    Sister Abigail: But the most troubling thing is the Sullivan house fire. I checked into it further, it was arson. They have never found the person who did it.
    [While Sister Abigail are talking to Kate and John, Esther looks]
    John: What are you suggesting here? That she had anything to do with any of this? It's ridiculous.
    Sister Abigail: That a child could commit such crimes. It just flies in the face of everything I believe.
    John: Oh... well, yeah.
    [while Max is drawing, Esther enters her room.; Max turns to Esther.]
    Esther: [while signing] There's a mean lady here. She's come to take me away. Will you help me?
    Kate: We've had some behavioral problems, but...
    John: Yeah, nothing like that. I mean, right?
    Kate: Yes, we have.
    John: Really, hon, think about it.
    [Esther looks at the living room, while Kate, John and Sister Abigail are talking.]
    Sister Abigail: I've tried to reach the Russian orphanage where she was raised. I think we need to know what we're dealing with.
    [John gets irritated.]
    John: Oh-uh, I'll tell you what we're dealing with. We're dealing with...
    Kate: N-no, you know what?
    John: [turns to Kate.] Stop. Listen. [turns back to Sister Abigail.] We're dealing with a 9-year-old girl who's an orphan,---
    Kate: Y-yeah, that's it...
    John: [to Sister Abigail] ...okay?
    Kate: We're taking her to Dr. Browning.
    [John turns to Kate]
    John: We can take her to Dr. Browning.
    [As Daniel is sleeping, Esther holds a box cutter to Daniel's neck; he wakes up]
    Esther: Shhhh...
    [She grabs his hair and slams his head against the pillow]
    Esther: Tell me what you saw.
    Daniel: What are you doing?
    Esther: What did you see?
    Daniel: [crying] I saw you and Max in the treehouse...
    Esther: [pulls his hair] What else?
    Daniel: [crying] What do you mean?
    Esther: What else did you see?
    Daniel: Nothing, I didn't see anything else, I swear!
    Esther: Did you tell anyone?
    Daniel: [crying] No... I didn't tell anyone.
    [Esther moves the box cutter down between his legs.]
    Esther: If I find out that you're lying, I'll cut your hairless little prick off before you even figure out what it's for. Do you understand?
    Daniel: Yes...
    [Daniel urinates in his pants]
    Esther: You pissed yourself.
    [Esther lets go of Daniel and leaves the room.]
    Esther: I like it when it's just the two of us. You don't know how long I've waited for a daddy just like you.
    John: Mommy too, right?
    Esther: I don't think Mommy likes me very much.
    John: Hey. That's not true, Mommy loves you.
    Esther: It's all right. It must be hard to love an adopted child as much as your own.
    John: Sweetheart, you're just as much part of this family as Danny and Max, okay? Why don't you do something nice for Mommy, show her how much you love her?
    Esther: That's a wonderful idea.
    [as Daniel looks for the evidence through his treehouse, Esther suddenly enters behind him.; Daniel turns to Esther.]
    Esther: Are you looking for this? [she pulls out the hammer from Max's backpack] Poor Sister Abigail. I couldn't have done it myself, you know. [pulls out her bloody clothes.] Max is just as guilty as I am.
    Daniel: Whatever Max did, you made her do it!
    Esther: Think about it. [she pulls out Max's drawings from her pocket.] How did she even know what was up here? [puts the drawing on the pile.] It's always better to burn the evidence. [pulls out the lighter fluid.] If they find these things, [begins spraying lighter fluid on the pile] they won't just be coming for me. They'll be coming for Max, too. [lights a match.] Is it really what you want?
    Daniel: Wait! [Esther drops the match and sprays more lighter fluid all over the treehouse.] What are you doing? [Esther keeps spraying the fluid all over the tree house.] Are you crazy?! [The fire ignites the fluid, setting the treehouse on fire.; Esther climbs down the lighthouse and closes the door as Daniel rushes through the door.] Let me out! [Esther locks the door from the treehouse.] Let me out of here!
    [Kate's cell phone is ringing, Kate wakes up and answers it.]
    Kate: Hello?
    Dr. Varava: Is this Kate Coleman? [small pause] Hello?
    Kate: Yeah, this is she.
    Dr. Varava: My name is Dr. Varava. I'm calling from the Saarne Institute. I've just seen the picture you e-mailed.
    Kate: And do you recognize her?
    Dr. Varava: Where is she right now? Is she someplace where she can hear you?
    Kate: No, she's not with me. She's with my husband at home---
    Dr. Varava: Call your husband right now, and tell him to get your family out of the house. Then call the police.
    Kate: He won't listen to me. Why?
    Dr. Varava: Then tell him the little girl in the picture, is not really a little girl. She is a grown woman.
    Kate: What? What are you talking about? The picture I sent you is of our adopted daughter, and she's 9 years old.
    Dr. Varava: No, she's not. She has a rare hormone disorder. It's called hypopituitarism, it causes proportional dwarfism. She only looks like a child. [checks on the records] According to our records, Leena Klammer was born in 1976. She's 33 years old.
    [Kate gets up and dresses up in her normal clothing]
    Kate: This can't be. This is a mistake.
    Dr. Varava: I hope so, for your sake. Does she have the scars?
    Kate Coleman: What? I don't know. What scars?
    Dr. Varava: Leena was one of our most violent patients. When she was here, she was kept in a straitjacket to stop her from hurting our staff. She was constantly fighting to get out. It cut into her skin and left her with scars around her wrists and neck. There is no way you could not have seen them.
    [Kate rushes through the hospital.]
    Kate: Why was she at your hospital?
    Dr. Varava: She's dangerously ill, violent. She killed seven people that we know of.
    Kate: Oh, my God. How could she fool us?
    Dr. Varava: She has been passing herself off as a little girl for most of her life. She tricked a family here in Estonia into adopting her. When she couldn't seduce the father, she killed him and his whole family.
    Kate: Then she burned the house down?
    Dr. Varava: Yes. How did you know? She disappeared a year ago, and we lost track of her. If it's really Leena, you don't have much time.
    [Kate uses the stairs and gets out of the hospital.]
    Esther/Leena: Please... don't let me die, Mommy.
    Kate: I'm not your fucking mommy! [kicks Esther in the face and sends her back into the pond to drown, her neck broken]

## Taglines

* Can you keep a secret?
* There's something wrong with Esther.
* From the Director of House of Wax.

## Cast

* Vera Farmiga - Kate Coleman
* Peter Sarsgaard - John Coleman
* Isabelle Fuhrman - Esther/Leena Klammer
* CCH Pounder - Sister Abigail
* Jimmy Bennett - Daniel Coleman
* Margo Martindale - Dr. Browning
* Karel Roden - Dr. Varava
* Aryana Engineer - Max Coleman

## External links

* Orphan quotes at the Internet Movie Database