The Orphanage (El Orfanato)

This chilling first feature by Juan Antonio Bayona plays with Victorian ideas of fantasy and moral punishment, while stitching in contemporary concerns: child abuse, feminist guilt and the impact of surveillance technology figure prominently. The result is not for the faint of heart. The Orphanage is frequently quite scary – a feeling that lingers long after its haunting, luminous final shot.

The story concerns the goings-on at an abandoned orphanage that saw some evildoings during the Franco regime. One of the former residents, the lovely Laura (Belén Rueda), returns to the abandoned estate with her husband and sensitive son. But the youngster quickly begins seeing – and then playing with – a group of malicious children, who may or may not be in his imagination. When he disappears one day, Laura comes to suspect that these children were part of her life too, once upon a time.

Intelligent genre filmmaking requires perfect execution from all quarters. The Orphanage manages that, with a particular emphasis on performance. Rueda is incredible; her creepy obsessiveness gradually overcomes us. We begin to believe the impossible through her sheer force of will.

Diana Sanchez, Toronto Film Festival Programme