Good film about a bad seed

When John and Kate Coleman (Peters Sarsgaard and Vera Farmiga) lose a child to stillbirth, the couple decide to adopt a child in its place. They adopt a girl of Russian descent named Esther (Isabelle Fuhrman), and with the other Coleman siblings Max and Daniel (Aryana Engineer and Jimmy Bennett), the Coleman clan seems complete.

Initially, Esther’s well-mannered and charismatic personality wows her new parents, but soon after her arrival, problems start. It doesn’t take long to realize something is wrong with Esther. Disturbingly wrong.

Dressing in Victorian-era clothing, Esther is quickly made fun of at school. Eventually she retaliates violently on the playground toward a girl who bullied her, but the incident is dismissed when Esther claims it was merely an accident.

Esther’s rage gets exponentially more twisted and grotesque. Also increasing at an alarming rate is her devious manipulation of her new siblings, whom she uses to further mask her sociopathic behavior.

Fuhrmann is incredibly twisted as the orphaned Esther, and thanks to an unexpected twist at the end, full-out freakish by the latter stages of the film.

Her performance serves as an example of why sociopathy is such a terrifying and intriguing phenomenon. She transforms from utterly emotionless to genuinely sweet to violently angry and back again with little more than slight changes in facial expression.

Sarsgaard and Farmiga both turn in good performances as the clueless husband and incessantly victimized wife, respectively. Farmiga’s character is a recovering alcoholic who instantly clashes with Esther, but no one believes her notion that something is amiss with the orphan beneath the surface. Sarsgaard’s character criticizes his wife for her dislike of the child while he recklessly abandons common sense until it’s too late.

Gender roles seem to be somewhat reversed in the character portrayal of the parents. The reversal is engaging and welcomed.

One of the few flaws of the film, however, are the inevitable horror cliches, such as medicine-cabinet mirrors quickly being shut to cast a sudden reflection and shower curtains ripped open to reveal nothing.

The biggest horror trope is the revelation of everything in the last half an hour of the film, with the characters trapped in a dark house jumping at shadows and fighting a suddenly unstoppable evil. There is no suspense but who will die and how, and which apparent death of the antagonist will actually stick.

Despite some level of predictability and cliches, the acting is solid, and a big twist near the end still makes “Orphan” an enjoyable nightmare.