Last week Sweet Perdition had its busiest day ever, and the past two days have each been busier than the previous winner:
This development is partly thanks to this post about the film Orphan. There’s a lesson for me somewhere about organization, managing my mental spoons, and writing about things in a timely manner. (I’d been planning on using Orphan to write about the “bad seed” sub-genre in general and cultural anxieties about disabled children. so was gathering my thoughts in a disability analysis direction seriously for days–and, much less intensely, for months–before I saw the movie).
The other lesson is that people want to know things–and, unfortunately, many searchers’ Orphan-related questions weren’t answered at all. While I hope some of them stuck around for the analysis of disability anyway, it totally sucks to not get the answers you seek. So, Internets, I apologize. And I’m here to make it up to you. Let’s begin, shall we?
What song does Esther sing?
“The Glory of Love”–not to be confused with Peter Cetera’s “Glory of Love.” It was written by Billy Hill, and has been recorded many times: most notably by Benny Goodman (1936) Peggy Lee (1959), Dean Martin (1966), Eddy Arnold (1969), Otis Redding, and Bette Midler for the film Beaches. (Lyrics for the Bette Midler version). The version played during Orphan’s end credits is sung by Jimmy Durante.
Did two different actresses play Esther?
My mom wondered this, too; she told me that in some scenes Esther had freckles but in others she didn’t. (Being me, I didn’t notice). But Esther is played by 12-year-old Isabelle Fuhrman (Hounddog), and I haven’t found any references to a second actress.
What is Max’s real name?
In the film, “Max” is short for “Maxine,” and Aryana Engineer is the actress who plays her.
Is she really deaf?
Miss Engineer’s resume at IMDB says she has “mild hearing loss.” In an interview at IESB.net, Vera Farmiga (Kate) was asked about learning American Sign Language. She replied:
“It wasn’t a tremendous effort. We went pretty quickly, after the whole thing came together, so there wasn’t much pre-production. But, Aryana Engineer was hard of hearing and we wanted to just have the easiest and fullest communication, so we all dabbled, as much as we could, in trying to learn the language beforehand. And then, we could communicate with her, just by speaking very loudly and gesticulating madly.”
What’s the name of the mental institution?
The Saarne Institute. Ontario’s Alma College (St. Thomas) “stars” as the building.
