Lamb
Directed by Valdimar Jóhannsson
- drama
- fantasy
- horror
The story
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.
What it’s like
Wide, still shots of Icelandic highlands under flat grey skies, with the farm's pale interiors lit by lamplight and the blue-white glare of snow, give Lamb a cold, painterly calm that hardens into unease. The pace is slow and deliberate, with long silences broken by wind, bleating and the creak of wooden floors, and the score is sparse and drone-like, mostly held tones that sit under the frame rather than pushing it. Its vibe is quiet melancholy with a folkloric chill: the kind of film to watch alone on a grey afternoon, when you're willing to be patient and let the stillness do the work. Violence is rare but sudden and stark when it arrives, and there is a brief, non-graphic scene of animal birth and some bodily horror; the overall dread is more eerie than gory. Emotionally it follows a childless couple, one grieving and one hopeful, as their tenderness and fragile joy curdle into something sorrowful. It suits viewers who want slow, atmospheric art-house storytelling with a dark, uncanny undertow, not gentle comfort viewing.
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