Orphan

2016 [FRENCH]

Crime / Drama / Thriller

8
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 60% · 8 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Spilled 60%
IMDb Rating 6.0/10 10 1607 1.6K

Plot summary

A young woman moves to Paris and has a brush with disaster. Grown-up at last, an accomplished woman thought she was safe from her own past. Gradually, these characters come together to form a single heroine.

Director

Arnaud des Pallières Photo
Arnaud des Pallières

Top cast

Gemma Arterton Photo
Gemma Arterton as Tara
Adèle Exarchopoulos Photo
Adèle Exarchopoulos as Sandra
Sarah Suco Photo
Sarah Suco as La radiologue
Jalil Lespert Photo
Jalil Lespert as Darius
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
1 GB
1280*536
French 2.0
NR
Subtitles fr  
23.976 fps
1 hr 51 min
Seeds 1
2.05 GB
1920*804
French 5.1
NR
Subtitles fr  
23.976 fps
1 hr 51 min
Seeds 2

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by davek28 5 / 10

Disjointed

I'm watching this on Mubi in the UK and I have to admit that I have pretty much no idea what is happening at any point. There seem to be several separate films joined together for no reason. Despite the cast including several of my favourite actors, I'm constantly on the verge of abandoning it. It's not like there is anyone to get attached to or sympathise with, and I can't see any connection between the episodes aside from guest appearances by certain characters. I'm giving it 5 out of 10 as a sympathy vote as I think I'm probably missing something. Finally, for character length, it's interesting and refreshing to find Gemma Arterton in a French film.
Reviewed by TrTm316 7 / 10

Excellent patchwork tale missing a few seams.

This could have been superb, but films with fragmented nonlinear timelines require more care to tie the pieces together than we receive in Orphan. It's a drama depicting major traumas in one character's life, but in reverse time order, inside a wrapper that begins and ends in current times.Portrayal of the progressively younger main character Renée/Sandra/Karine by Adèle Haenel, Adèle Exarchapoulos, and Solène Rigot were excellent as expected, and young Vega Cuzytek played the child version, Kiki, with skill far beyond her years. Technical aspects of the film were fine.But completely lacking is anything that provides a causal link from Kiki's experience to her mindset and behavior as Karine. I interpreted Kiki's trauma as one of misadventure, and not one in which blame is due. Nothing in the film shows otherwise. And the drastic change in personality and behavior of her father is given unacceptably short shrift. The end of Karine's tale, her transition to Sandra, and the transition from Sandra to Renée also could have been depicted more explicitly, but the gist should suffice.Other than that, once viewers understand that these women and girl are the same person, the film is accessible. And unlike some folks, I interpreted the final scene as redemptive, with Renée facing up to what is required of her while having hope and honest intent to return to her newest responsibility when she can.It's worth watching!
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