[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/orphan-movie-poster-screening.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:It's like TheGoodSon. Only, sicker.]]
One of the few things on which pianist Kate Coleman (Vera Farmiga) agrees with her apathetic architect husband, John Coleman (Peter Saarsgard), is that a drastic change is needed to save their rocky marriage. With the burden of John's past infidelity, the emotional distance of their rebellious adolescent son, Daniel (Jimmy Bennett), and the helplessness of their deaf younger daughter, Max (Aryana Engineer), Kate's loss of her third baby in childbirth broke her sanity and drowned her in a sea of alcoholism.

In an attempt to find an alternative outlet of love meant for their stillborn child, the Colemans take in a mysterious 9-year-old Russian orphan called Esther (IsabelleFuhrman) into their family. Max, in her innocence, was ecstatic to finally have a big sister; Daniel was less than enthusiastic due to the bullying he receives at school due to her eccentricities.

Polite and creative, Esther initially had a sensitivity and charm that began to thaw the frozen hearts of the Coleman couple... and that's when people around them started getting hurt.

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[[folder: General Tropes]]
* AdultFear: ''Nonstop'', but particularly the scene where Esther pulls the emergency brake on the car with Max in it and lets it slide down the hill.
* TheAlcoholic / DrowningMySorrows: Kate, formerly.
* AssholeVictim: The bully who gets [[spoiler: her ankle broken]].
** And possibly [[spoiler: Danny]].
** Ditto [[spoiler:John]]. Perhaps not an asshole in the traditional sense, but [[spoiler:his insistence on believing Esther's word over ''his freaking wife'' and his willful ignorance of evidence staring him in the face]] loses him a lot of sympathy.
* BreakTheCutie: Poor [[CuteMute Max.]]
* BringMyBrownPants: Danny, when Esther threatens him with a box cutter.
* CassandraTruth: In spades. Kate knows Esther is a psychopath, but has no evidence.
* ChekhovsGun: Several. [[spoiler: The revolver, Max's hearing aids, the treehouse key, the second bottle of wine,]] and, of course, [[spoiler: Esther's paintings.]]
* ChildrenAreInnocent: Max, so much that you'll want to hug her from her very first scene. [[AvertedTrope The same]] [[EnfanteTerrible cannot be said]] [[KidsAreCruel for anyone else.]]
* ConspicuousCG: A lot, but the most noticeable is Eshter's knife in the finale.
* CuteMute: [[{{Moe}} Adorable little Max.]]
* DysfunctionJunction: On both the villainous '''and''' heroic sides.
* ExecutiveMeddling: In the original script, Danny was supposed to die and Esther's backstory was supposed to be better explained, making her more sympathetic and her actions of [[spoiler:pretending to be a child to seduce John]] make more sense.
* ExtremeMeleeRevenge: Esther attempts to [[spoiler: seduce John]]. When he turns her down, she [[spoiler:stabs him with a kitchen knife and does not stop until well after he's dead]].
* GroinAttack: Threatened, but not executed.
--> '''Esther:''' ''(holding a box cutter between Danny's legs)'' If I find out that you're lying, I'll cut your hairless little prick off before you even figure out what it's for.
* IdiotBall: Having sex in a part of the house that's meant to be used by the entire family. As a result, they [[PrimalScene get caught by Esther.]]
** To be fair, they ''did'' assume Esther was in bed at the time.
*** They still have three kids, not just Esther. Any of them could have woken up.
* ImprobableAimingSkills: Subverted when [[spoiler: Max picks up the revolver that Kate had dropped earlier and aims it at Esther, but ends up shooting the ice they're standing on instead.]]
* InfantImmortality: Although subverted in an earlier draft of the script in which Esther kills a 7-year-old girl the Colemans had been planning to adopt, and she is found hung in a closet.
** [[spoiler: Danny]] was also supposed to die in the script.
* {{Jerkass}}: The boys that Danny hangs out with. But Danny himself is a JerkassWoobie.
* KickTheDog: [[spoiler: Esther cutting the flowers that Kate and John's stillborn child's ashes were scattered over and presenting them to the former in a bouquet.]]
** Esther reading excerpts from Kate's diary (regarding her miscarriage) out loud.
* KickTheSonOfABitch: On Esther's first day of school, a girl named Brenda makes fun of her. Later, Esther comes up behind Brenda and shoves her off the slide, breaking her ankle.
* KidsAreCruel: The girls who bully Esther at school, and Danny and his friends.
* MirrorScare: Both subverted and played straight. The first time Kate goes to the medicine cabinet, she closes the door to find nothing, the second time [[spoiler: it's John standing behind her in a fake scare.]]
* PornStash: In Danny's treehouse. [[CrowningMomentOfFunny "Page 43 will change your life." "Hey, that looks like your mom!!"]]
* PrecisionFStrike: Kate: "I'm not your fucking mommy!"
** Doubles as a ShoutOut to ''TheRingTwo''.
** Danny: "She's not my fucking sister!"
** Esther: "I know, they fuck."
* PrimalScene: But don't worry, Esther understands.
* PunctuatedForEmphasis: [[spoiler:"I'm not! Your fucking! MOMMY!!"]]
* RealLifeWritesThePlot: The movie was supposed to take place in the fall, but a record snow fall hitting the filming location during filming changed this to the winter, in turn eliminating a scene in the script at a Halloween carnival at Danny and Esther's school. Some might say the winter atmosphere helped make the movie more creepy.
* ReplacementGoldfish: A tale of this trope in action, gone horribly, '''horribly''' wrong.
* RussianRoulette: ''"Want to play?"''
* SickbedSlaying: [[spoiler: Danny. He survives, though.]]
* SoundtrackDissonance: "The Glory of Love" plays over a disturbing, UV paint-splattered credits reel.
* TookALevelInBadass: [[spoiler: Max at the end.]]
* TooDumbToLive: Sure, the first few results of Esther's psychopathy ''could'' be chalked up to coincidence. But John ''still'' refuses to believe Kate after [[spoiler: Danny's treehouse mysteriously burns down, putting him in the hospital. When Esther just HAPPENED to be near it at the time. [[WhatAnIdiot Must've been spontaneous combustion, right?]]]]
** Kate earns some of this for not thinking to call the cops sooner, especially as she is fairly quick to realize that there is something wrong with Esther. Why on earth would she even let her come to the hospital?
*** Kate comes off this way a lot, she doesn't handle her paranoia against Esther rationally and comes off whiny and demanding. Possibly justified a little due to her emotional instability.
* VanityPlate: Covered in glow paint [[spoiler: to foreshadow Esther's secret layer of her paintings showing her [[CuteAndPsycho sadistic side]]]].
* YourCheatingHeart: Ten years before the film's events, John cheated on Kate, although he didn't tell her until many years later.
--> '''John:''' Let me get this straight: We can talk about my mistakes, but not yours?
--> '''Kate:''' I was sick! You're an asshole who wanted to fuck somebody else!
[[/folder]]

'''Tropes that concern Esther''' ([[spoiler:'''or better said, Leena Klammer''']]). '''Spoilers dead ahead!!'''
* AbusiveParents / ParentalIncest: Forms part of her [[RapeAsBackstory backstory]], [[FreudianExcuse explaining why she is so screwed up]], but this wasn't [[ExecutiveMeddling portrayed in the film]] (it was in the original script).
* AffablyEvil: She really can be quite charming when she chooses to be.
* AgeInappropriateDress
* AxCrazy: And [[spoiler: hammer]] crazy.
* BitchInSheepsClothing
* ClingyJealousGirl: Towards [[spoiler: her adoptive father John.]]
* CreepyChild: [[spoiler: Subverted, since she's really thirty three years old. She's still way creepy, though.]]
* DropTheHammer: Uses a claw hammer to murder [[spoiler:Sister Abigail.]]
* EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette
* EnfanteTerrible: [[spoiler: Terrible, anyway.]]
* [[HairDecorations Every Girl Is Creepier With Hair Decs]]
* TheFakeCutie: Could be the poster girl for this trope.
* FilleFatale: [[spoiler: Or so you think, since you know, she's not a child after all.]]
* GirlishPigtails: Several times.
* HeartwarmingOrphan: What the Colemans ''think'' she is at first...
** EvilOrphan: What she ''really'' is. [[spoiler: Even after TheReveal, she may still qualify, considering she ''[[SelfMadeOrphan murdered her own father]]''.]]
* HarmfulToMinors: [[spoiler: "It takes two to drag a body... Max, come and help your sister..."]]
* KnifeNut
* LoveHungry
* {{Lzherusskie}}: [[spoiler: Both the actress ''and'' the character.]]
* MadArtist
* ManipulativeBitch
* MurderTheHypotenuse: All of Esther's actions in this film have in mind the [[spoiler: ultimate death of Kate, Danny AND Max so that she can have John all to herself]].
* PrecisionFStrike: "I know, they fuck."
* PyroManiac
* ReplacementGoldfish: The Coleman family '''really''' should have just gotten a puppy.
* RoomFullOfCrazy: [[spoiler: Look at all those pretty paintings she made! Wait...oh dear God...]]
* SignificantBirthDate: May be unintentional, but according to [[spoiler: her records at the mental hospital,]] she was born on April 20th, thus sharing a birthday with [[AdolfHitler another murderous nutcase.]]
* StepfordSmiler: Type C.
* TroublingUnchildlikeBehaviour: Casually using the word "fuck" in everyday conversation is the ''least'' worrying thing about this young lady.
** A graver example: She tries to [[spoiler: seduce John]].
* VillainousBreakdown: After failing to [[spoiler: seduce John]], Esther [[spoiler: runs to her room, removes everything she uses to pass herself off as a nine-year-old, while throwing a screaming fit and wrecking the room]].
* WhamLine: "The little girl in that picture [[spoiler: is not really a little girl. She's a grown woman."]]
* WickedCultured: Esther is a piano virtuoso, is presumably trilingual and is a talented and prolific painter.
* WiseBeyondTheirYears: Esther knows '''far''' more about sex than a [[spoiler:seemingly]] 9-year-old should '''ever''' healthily know.
* [[spoiler:WomanInBlack]]: During the finale.
* WoundedGazelleGambit: Breaks ''her own arm'' in a freaking ''vise'' and frames her adoptive mother for it.
* {{Yandere}}: Combined with a not entirely healthy dose of CuteAndPsycho.
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''That's the story of, that's the glory of love.''
<<|{{Film}}|>>