10 · 04 · 07

The Orphanage inaugurates the 5th FICM

Clara Sánchez/Translated by Vicente Castañar

The fifth edition of the Festival Internacional de Cine de Morelia (Morelia’s International Film Festival) will begin today by showing the film The Orphanage de Juan Antonio Bayona which will run in Teatro José María Morelos (José María Morelos’ Theater).

The Orphanage, was produced by Guillermo del Toro, last year’s guest of honor. This film is about Laura, a woman who returns, accompanied by her family, to the orphanage where she grew up; her goal is to open up a home for disabled-handicapped children. Once there, Simon, Laura’s son, starts playing some games that begin to escalate as threatful. Laura must soon discover the old house’s mysteries.

“The most admirable (and surprising) achievement of The Orphanage lies in the sensibility of its treatment and in the sincerity of its performances (carried out brilliantly by the prodigious Geraldine Chaplin and Belén Rueda, who made her debut with The Sea Inside). Indeed, it’s impressive to witness how this young and daring 26 year old transforms a classic ghost story, complete with a haunted house, into a deeply moving ode to motherly love. The story effectively borrows form the conventions of the genre, departing slightly in order to touch upon unexpected human truths.

Although the supernatural abounds in its images, these still evoke the human dimensions of the situation, and attain a perfect fusion of Grand Guignol and psychological drama. In its ensemble, The Orphanage can be seen as the introspective journey of a mother who tests the limits of her love for her son.

And, to conclude, I will never forget the 20 minute round of applause that The Orphanage received during its world premiere at the International Critics’ Week: Guillermo “Memo” del Toro carrying J. A. Bayona in front of a teary-eyed Geraldine Chaplin, in the midst of a memorable standing ovation! An extraordinary moment that attests to the film’s superb quality, its exceptional ability to combine technical perfection with a profound human dignity.”

JEAN-CHRISTOPHE BERJON