An Icelandic couple live with their herd of sheep on a beautiful but remote farm. When they discover a mysterious newborn on their land, they decide to keep it and raise it as their own. This unexpected development and the prospects of a new family brings them much joy before ultimately destroying them.
- Released: 2021-08-12
- Runtime: 106 minutes
- Genre: Drama, Horror, Mystery
- Stars: Noomi Rapace, Hilmir Snær Guðnason, Björn Hlynur Haraldsson, Ingvar Sigurdsson, Ester Bibi, Sigurður Elvar Viðarson, Theodór Ingi Ólafsson, Arnþruður Dögg Sigurðardóttir, Gunnar Þor Karlsson, Lára Björk Hall
- Director: Valdimar Jóhannsson
Comments
- sgildea-78306 - 29 April 2024
Different and proudly so. Must see.
Lamb is an outstanding Icelandic film about a farming couple who are grieving the loss of a child.
The quiet pair are living with the sadness and still performing their work as a way to keep going.
Birthing Lambs is something they regularly carry out but one day something else is born from one of these lambs.
It's hard to explain any of the plot without giving things away so I'll just outline why this is a good film.
The acting is sincere and at times unsettling as you don't know what's actually going on or going to happen!
This is a unique and weird movie but all the better for it.
It's great that A24 are getting these sort of films more eyes on.
Not for everybody but if you just go with it this is a very well done film and for me it's something I would recommend to most. - micke-bystrom - 26 November 2023
Interesting, but story not working fully.
Noomi Rapace as Maria, Hilmir Snær Guðnason as Ingvar as well as Björn Hlynur Haraldsson as Pétur all do a really good acting job here in this folklore, rather than horror, tale.
The main theme is not uninteresting and the film's structure is coherent, if a bit flimsy here and there. Suspension of belief is required or at least we're asked to believe something unexpected. That part isn't working fully. The weak part are these prosaic supernatural aspects of the story. The presentation of this leaves a lot to be desired all through the film. This is hard to do well, but that's no defence.
Lamb borrows a bit of presentation style from the simpler detour stories in X-files, but is never able to give the viewer any true tension like that example, simply because the story twists and turns are plain absurd when not being totally uninteresting rather than extrinsic and incomprehensible, despite story developments. There's very little to be scared of and no immediate fear is felt as it's all portrayed much like a strange bad dream after some stale food.
See it for the actors and the beautiful Icelandic landscape. Don't expect any true horror from this one. - tony-sullivan99 - 20 May 2023
Extraordinarily sensitive
Maria and Ingvar are a youngish, childless couple, intense but subdued, running a sheep property below Iceland's gloomy peaks. All seems routine, with only one or two subtle hints of anything amiss. Later they are visited by Ingvar's ne'er-do-well brother. When fairytale-like events unfold, all three are deeply affected, but without the stupefied disbelief you might expect - it's as though they know things we don't about their country.
The film abounds in atmosphere and extraordinarily sensitive portrayals of animals' feelings (CGI-enhanced I think). It is like a fairy or folk tale, though I don't believe it is actually based on one. People have tried to work out what the ending "means", but while the core events are clear, I think their meanings are negotiated afresh with each viewer.
Spoiler alert
What happens is this. A tall male creature with human body and ram's head stalks the hills, breaks into Maria and Ingvar's sheep pen, and sires a babe on one of the sheep - a female replica of himself, sheep's head and all. Maria delivers the newborn hybrid and adopts it as her own child, naming it Ada. When Ada's sheep-mother tries to get to her, Maria drives it off and ultimately shoots it.
The fantasy is interwoven with a realist story. Before the film opens Maria and Ingvar have lost two children (one named Ada). In one of the early scenes Maria voices a wish to be able to go back in time, which suggests that the children's deaths were preventable. At one time the growing hybrid-Ada wanders into the fields, because Ingvar left a door open, suggesting he may have also been negligent regarding his own children, especially since there are several other references to doors in the film.
At the end the "ram man" exacts revenge for the killing of the sheep-mother by shooting Ingvar with his own gun, then taking Ada with him back into the hills, leaving Maria bereft.
In one particularly heart-rending scene Ada stares at a picture of sheep, as though trying to sort things out in her young mind. For me, one of the key meanings of the film is the lamb-like innocence and vulnerability of young children, especially those like Ada who slowly become aware of being radically different, and socially unacceptable. - youngcollind - 4 November 2022
This movie is it's own straight man
A quintessential slow burn set in rural Iceland, it's nearly silent given the sparse dialogue, yet a sombre melancholy hangs heavy in the air. It almost buckles under the weight of it's own dreariness before introducing the central theme, something so ridiculous you can't help but be taken aback. It's nearly comedic in it's absurdity, yet the film stays committed to it's stone face. Like a Monty Python character that won't admit they've been rendered limbless, it just caries on dryly, barely acknowledging the elephant (or lamb) in the room.
This contrast between the outlandish and the mundane is the fundamental charm of the film, but can't carry it completely. It balances things out with gorgeous landscapes and strong understated performances. Given it's abstract nature, you can't help but feel like there's gonna be some symbolism beneath the surface. They lightly touch on themes of grief, showing a couple grasping at straws to change what's become, but ultimately it feels too vague to say anything conclusive or insightful. In the absence of a strong message, you're left with a hollow vehicle delivering the somewhat silly surface level concept. - mahiewilhoit - 11 August 2022
Not For Everyone
I'm rating this a bit higher than I should, but I appreciate the unique. A24 is almost a genre in and of itself, if you find yourself enjoying other movies from them, I would recommend a watch, although there's no guarantee you'll like it.
What convinced me to watch this was the blurb "It's the sweetest, most touching waking nightmare you've ever experienced", although the ladder is a fun exaggeration.
I greatly enjoyed the many scenes of natural beauty, the streams, mist, and beautiful mountains. To be honest, I was wondering constantly what would happen next, which is nice for a movie. I enjoyed the sweet moments. I thought casting was great, a beautiful leading lady.
The final gist: I'm interested to see what future projects this director takes on. If you have a history of not enjoying A24 films, skip it. - RussHog - 16 July 2022
It's baaaaaaaad.
Lamb is a weird little film about a man and woman in the middle of nowhere who raise a child that is half lamb, half human. The lamb's father is an entity of the land, and he comes back to get his kid. Instead of exploring all of these interesting ideas, the film focuses mainly just on the family and the lamb kid doing nothing and going nowhere. No real conflict in this movie. No struggle to accept kid. No battle to keep kid from entity. Nothing. Lamb...is lame.
