The birth of a special little lamb turns the life of a childless couple upside down in this unsettling Icelandic folk horror.
María and Ingvar own a sheep farm in a remote part of Iceland. They have no children and would like to change that. The birth of a special little lamb at first brings joy and the notion of a family life to the farm, but nature has other plans and tensions soon begin to mount. When Ingvar’s brother Pétur comes to visit, the untenable situation explodes.
Director Valdimar Jóhansson interweaves elements of folk horror and traditional rural drama in his debut film. In the opening scenes, he manages to imbue a herd of sheep about to go out to the fields with an ominous menace, and he cleverly maintains that sense of impending doom throughout the film. Because something is obviously very wrong with María and Ingvar’s new family life, but what exactly? Jóhansson waits an hour before he reveals what is actually going on. The film’s true horror lies in the loneliness and the coming to terms with a great loss, which has a hold on María in particular.
Director: Valdimar Jóhansson
Iceland 2021
106m
With: Noomi Rapace, Hilmir Snær Gu∂nason, Björn Hjlynur Haraldsson
