At one point, the film seems like it might be moving in the direction of a classic psychological female thriller in the vein of “Bunny Lake is Missing,” or “Repulsion,” where female emotion is pathologized and mocked.
From its opening sequence, with credits revealed under pieces of torn paper in a style that evokes the Saul Bass-designed titles of Otto Preminger’s 1965 thriller Bunny Lake is Missing, J.A. Bayona’s The Orphanage is not afraid to flaunt its influences.