Lamb Review

7 / 10. A beautifully bleak and haunting folkloric film within Iceland’s mysterious landscape *SPOILERS*

Lamb (original title - Dýrið) is a 2021 film directed by Valdimar Jóhannsson, co-written by Jóhannsson with Sjón.

A mysterious, unnatural lamb is born on an isolated Icelandic farm and the farmer couple raise her as their own child in this beautifully bleak and haunting folkloric film set within Iceland’s mysterious landscape.

I recommend watching Lamb spoiler-free! Lamb is a slow burn with long, nuanced scenes of brief dialogue. Quietly tortured performances, from Noomi Rapace as Maria and Hilmir Snær Guðnason as Ingvar, portray the main character’s relationship and the trauma therein brilliantly. Björn Hlynur Haraldsson as Pétur adds some drama and hints at past events. There’s also some great acting from Ada’s biological mother sheep.

Foreboding rests just under the surface throughout, with subtle signs as to who, or what, is watching. The CGI is realistic and I warmed towards sweet, innocent Ada, as Maria and Ingvar did, finding the story unexpectedly touching. 

There are ambiguous aspects left open to interpretation and I thought about Lamb for a long time after…