Lamb

Submitted by Iceland to the 94th Academy Awards, Valdimar Jóhansson’s debut feature Lamb (Dýrið) is a surreal film inspired by Icelandic folktales. Farmer María and her husband Ingvar are shocked when one of their pregnant sheep gives birth to a human/sheep hybrid with a mostly human body and the head and right arm of a lamb. The whole focus of the film is on the bond between María, Ingvar, and Ada, the crossbred lamb they named after the loss of their child by the same name. However, the hybrid Ada’s biological mother becomes a troublemaker and tries to communicate with Ada.

When I was shooting the film, I had the feeling that we were preparing something special, at least it was for me. But I was far from thinking that it would be for so many people. I didn’t expect it. I told Valdimar that everything that has been happening around the film since its premiere in Cannes is just bonus, again and again. This film has already given me so much. Being in Iceland, filming with the lambs, playing a woman like Maria, bringing her to life… all of that was already a gift to me. And being part of this story about repair, healing and motherhood is something I needed to do in my life. (Noomi Rapace, Allocine, December 20, 2021)

Noomi Rapace was an early favorite to star as Maria, as Valdimar Jóhannsson told Filmhounds: “I think it was probably between one to one and a half years before shooting. She liked the project and she had some time between other projects. She really wanted to do it, she had been brought up in Iceland since she was six, she speaks the language and she grew up on a farm. We did have her in mind for a long time but we were extremely happy when she came on board”. As the saying goes to never work with animnals or children on a film, Rapace took the challenge to do both at the same time:

Same with the way I read your body language, I started reading their body language. And then you realize that communication is just so much more than words. And I could read the lamb, if she was tired or angry or annoyed. Same with the babies, because we shot with lambs and human babies and a dummy. So it was kind of a combination, and you kind of surrender into a different way of communicating, I guess. I was working on my patience. I’m quite an impatient person. And I was like, we have to just accept the fact that we’re working with creatures that are not following any rules. (Noomi Rapace, Fangoria, October 22, 2021)

“Lamb” movie has been a highly-regarded part of the 2021 film festivals, and won the 2021 Un Certain Regard Prize of Originality at the Cannes Film Festival. David Fear of Rolling Stone described the film as “the odd, unsettling, soon-to-be-your-cult-movie-of-choice straight outta Iceland”, and wrote: “It’s the sweetest, most touching waking nightmare you’ve ever experienced.” Jeannette Catsoulis of The New York Times called the film an “atmospheric debut feature”, and added that it “plays like a folk tale and thrums like a horror movie.” She wrote: “Slow-moving and inarguably nutty, Lamb nevertheless wields its atavistic power with the straightest of faces”. While an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign film did not materialise, Rapace was named Best Actress at the 2021 Sitges International Film Festival.

★    Sitges International Film Festival – Best Actress
★    Indiana Film Journalists Association – Best Actress
★    North Texas Film Critics Association – Best Actress