'Lamb' is a fantasy horror film that follows María and Ingvar, two farmers who discover a strange newborn in their sheep barn. After deciding to raise the child as their own, a sinister entity lurks in the shadows to reclaim the hybrid creature to the wilderness.
The film opens with a herd of horses being scared by an unseen entity that makes its way to the barn. Some time later, María and Ingvar help one of their sheep deliver an odd human/sheep hybrid. The couple take the creature in, take care of her and grow to love her as their own child, naming her Ada, after the daughter María and Ingvar lost as she was stillborn. After some time, the sheep mother loiters outside of María and Ingvar's house, attempting to contact her child, until María decides to shoot her. Unbeknownst to her, Ingvar's brother Pétur, who has just arrived at the farmhouse, witnesses María kill the sheep and bury her in a shallow, unmarked grave.
Pétur finds María and Ingvar's behaviour disturbing, claiming that Ada is an animal, not a child, but Ingvar insists that this has made them happy and that Pétur should not judge their way of life. After some time, whilst everyone sleeps, Pétur takes Ada for a walk with the intention of shooting her, however he has a change of heart and later María finds the two of them napping together, with Pétur becoming an uncle-like figure to Ada.
One evening, the trio have a drunken party at which time Ada ventures out to witness the unseen entity near the farmhouse. After some time, it is revealed that the family dog has been killed. After Ingvar goes to bed after drinking, Pétur makes advances towards María, trying to blackmail her by saying that he'll tell Ada that María killed her mother. María then tricks Pétur and locks him in a closet, with having decided that he must leave the farmhouse, and drives him to the bus stop the following morning. On discovering María and Pétur gone, Ingvar and Ada venture out to retrieve their tractor that had broken down earlier in the middle of the road. On their way back they are confronted by the previously unseen entity - a half man half ram hybrid, who proceeds to shoot Ingvar in the neck and walk off with Ada. On coming home and discovering Ingvar and Ada gone, María goes out looking for them and discovers Ingvar as he dies. The film closes on María wandering the wilderness in shock.
'Lamb' is an engrossing fantasy that, with an uncomplicated premise, manages to convey the full spectrum of elemental human emotions whilst also delivering an extraordinary story akin to a fairy-tale from a bygone era re-imagined through the lens of the present day. The story explores the themes of family, loyalty and loss through seeing María and Ingvar adopt Ada and care for her as their own, creating a family unit and finding their own happiness.
The film succeeds in pacing itself when it comes to revealing vital information. As such, we do not discover that Ada is a lamb/human hybrid until partway through the film, and only after that we discover that María and Ingvar had lost a child of their own. The film benefits from revealing María and Ingvar's circumstances sparingly, allowing for each new morsel of information to serve well in creating a complete picture of the pairs motivations and clearly establishing why they have chosen to pursue the creation of a family unit with Ada.
María and Ingvar, as portrayed by Noomi Rapace and Hilmir Snaer Gudnason respectively, are initially shown as simple farmers, spending their days toiling away at the farm, tending to their flock and living in peaceful harmony. With the introduction of Ada, a more intricate background is revealed, as the characters retain their simple and harmonious partnership, yet are now revealed to have their relationship to be cast in a slightly darker tone. As the couple have sustained loss, their adoption of Ada becomes easier to understand, even though initially the film leads the audience to believe that bringing her into the home appears surprising and odd.
The film further solidifies María and Ingvar's commitment to building a happy family with Ada after Pétur arrives at the farm. Coinciding with the revelation that Ada is a hybrid being, Pétur, and the audience, are faced with having to come to terms with how María and Ingvar are choosing to live. The love and affection that the pair have for their adopted child manages to sway both the viewer and Pétur in understanding why they have chosen this way of life.
'Lamb' excels in delivering intriguing characters, most prominently María, as through the story we come to know her as more than a simple farmer, with the film revealing the loss she has suffered through losing her daughter, the love and affection she wants to devote to her child and the sordid past that is implied with her having side-stepped in her marriage by having an intimate relationship with Pétur. Noomi Rapace brings forth a head-strong and loving character in María, successfully illustrating the overwhelming passion she has for raising Ada as her own, and the lengths she is willing to go to to safeguard her family's happiness.
The closing of the film drives the story to conclude on the fairy-tale side of things, as the ram/human hybrid reclaims Ada and effectively destroys María's family. With the loss of both Ada and Ingvar, María is in shock, yet the ending serves as a cautionary tale, leaning towards the message that what goes around, comes around. As María had previously taken Ada's mothers life, so she must now live with having her family taken from her.
The director of the film Valdimar Jóhannsson delivers an odd, yet deeply engrossing film, through which the creator has managed to bring forth a mash-up of family drama and a kind of mythical fantasy, succeeding on both counts by producing a heartfelt story about the love within a family and by showcasing the legend-like beasts that are the human/animal hybrids. Jóhannsson has done well in his feature directorial debut by creating an intriguing story surrounding a pair of simple farmers and placing them squarely in the middle of a fantasy world, delivering an unusual yet truly relatable story.
The film manages to excel on various levels, through delivering stellar performances by Noomi Rapace, Hilmir Snaer Gudnason and Björn Hlynur Haraldsson, by developing an original and engrossing story as well as succeeding in establishing a tense atmosphere whilst maintaining strong footing in reality through its relatable characters and their emotional plight.
Score: 4/4
Comentarios