Venice Film Festival 2025, review movie Orphan

Orphan: Living in Hope or Accepting Reality?

Set in Budapest during the late Fifties, in the days following the uprising against the communist regime, "Orphan" portrays the distress of a fatherless boy who has become so immersed in his mother's stories that he rejects the man who appears at their doorstep claiming paternal ambitions. Born to a Jewish mother who escaped persecution by hiding in the home of a Hungarian man with whom she presumably conceived her son, Andor cannot reconcile himself with reality. He resents his new—or true—father, pushing his personal struggle against this gruff yet affectionate man to the extreme.

László Nemes tells a story of misery and poverty, with the regime in the background undermining individual freedom. In this context, Andor finds himself wrestling with his own doubts. He cannot tolerate change, yet desires a better life for his mother, and despite his efforts, he fails to correct his mistakes—perhaps all that remains is to accept his true father.

With "Orphan," László Nemes succeeds in expressing an intimate narrative, choosing to tell the experience of a young boy who prefers to be an orphan and live in hope rather than accept reality.

"Orphan" delivers a fluid narrative and, as in "Son of Saul," for which László Nemes won an Oscar, presents the harshness of social conditioning during a specific historical period.