Taglines: Czech: Mrtvé deti si chtejí hrát (Dead children want to play)
The Orphanage movie storyline. In 1975 Spain, a young girl named Laura is given up for adoption. Years later, adult Laura (BelénRueda) returns to the closed orphanage, accompanied by her husband, Carlos (Fernando Cayo), and their seven-year-old adopted son, Simón (Roger Príncep). She plans to reopen the orphanage as a facility for disabled children. Simón claims to see a boy named Tomás (Óscar Casas).
He befriends Tomás and draws pictures of him as a child wearing a sack mask. Social worker Benigna Escobeda (Montserrat Carulla) informs Laura that Simón’s adoption file indicates that Simón is HIV positive. Incensed at Benigna’s intrusion, Laura asks her to leave. She later finds Benigna in the orphanage’s coal shed, but Benigna flees the scene. Later, Simón teaches Laura a game which grants its winner a wish. Clues lead the two to Simón’s adoption file. Simón becomes angry, and says that his new friend told him that Laura is not his biological mother and that he is going to die soon.
During a party at the orphanage, Laura and Simón argue, and Simón hides from her. While looking for him, she encounters a child wearing a sack mask who shoves her into a bathroom and locks her inside. Escaping, she finds that Simón is missing and she is unable to find him. That night Laura hears several loud crashes. Police psychologist Pilar (Mabel Rivera) suggests to Laura and Carlos that Benigna may have abducted Simón.
Six months later, Simón is still missing. Searching in a Spanish city, Laura spots Benigna who is then struck and killed by a car. The police find evidence that Benigna once worked at the orphanage, and that she had a son named Tomás who was interned there. The children stole a mask that Tomás wore to conceal his deformed face. Embarrassed, Tomás hid in a local sea cave and was subsequently drowned. His death occurred weeks after Laura was adopted.
The Orphanage (2007)
Directed by: Juan Antonio Bayona
Starring: Belén Rueda, Fernando Cayo, Geraldine Chaplin, Montserrat Carulla, Mabel Rivera, Andrés Gertrúdix, Roger Príncep, Edgar Vivar, Óscar Casas, Georgina Avellaneda, Mireia Renau, Geraldine Chaplin
Screenplay by: Sergio G. Sánchez
Production Design by: Josep Rosell
Cinematography by: Oscar Faura
Film Editing by: Elena Ruiz
Costume Design by: Maria Reyes
Set Decoration by: Iñigo Navarro
Art Direction by: Iñigo Navarro
Music by: Fernando Velázquez
MPAA Rating: R for some disturbing content.
Distributed by: Picturehouse
Release Date: December 28, 2007
Views: 67
