View source for Lamb (2021 film)

{{Short description|Icelandic folk horror film}}
{{Use American English|date=May 2021}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2023}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = Lamb
| image          = Dýrið poster.jpg
| caption        = Icelandic-language poster
| native_name      = {{Infobox name module
| language = Icelandic
| title    = Dýrið
| nolink   = 0
}}
| director       = [[Valdimar Jóhannsson]]
| producer       = {{plainlist|
* Marcin Drabiński
* Piodor Gustafsson
* Zuzanna Hencz
* Hrönn Kristinsdóttir
* Jon Mankell
* Sara Nassim
* Jan Naszewski
* Erik Rydell
* Klaudia Śmieja-Rostworowska
}}
| writer         = {{plainlist|
* [[Sjón]]
* Valdimar Jóhannsson
}}
| screenplay     =
| story          =
| based_on       =
| starring       = {{plainlist|
* [[Noomi Rapace]]
* [[Hilmir Snær Guðnason]]
* [[Björn Hlynur Haraldsson]]
* [[Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson]]
}}
| narrator       =
| music          = Þórarinn Guðnason
| cinematography = Eli Arenson
| editing        = Agnieszka Glinska
| production_companies = {{plainlist|
* Go to Sheep
* Boom Films
* Black Spark Productions
* Madants/NEM Corp
* [[Film i Väst]]
* Chimney Sweden
* Chimney Poland
* Rabbit Hole Productions
}}
| distributor    = {{plainlist|
*[[Sena (company)|Sena]] (Iceland)<ref>{{cite web |title=Dýrið - Ísland |url=https://www.norden.org/is/nominee/dyrid-island |publisher=[[Nordic Council of Ministers]] |access-date=9 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221101195506/https://www.norden.org/is/nominee/dyrid-island |archive-date=1 November 2022 |language=Icelandic |url-status=live}}</ref>
*TriArt Film (Sweden)<ref>{{cite web |title=Lamb (2022) |url=https://www.svenskfilmdatabas.se/en/item/?type=film&itemid=625303#companies |website=[[Swedish Film Database]] |publisher=[[Swedish Film Institute]] |access-date=9 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200613020655/https://www.svenskfilmdatabas.se/en/item/?type=film&itemid=625303#companies |archive-date=13 June 2020 |date=9 December 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref>
*Gutek Film (Poland)<ref>{{cite web |last1=Pham |first1=Annika |title=Nordic Genre Boost films Lamb and Hatching attract world buyers |url=https://nordiskfilmogtvfond.com/news/stories/nordic-genre-boost-films-lamb-and-hatching-attract-world-buyers |publisher=[[Nordisk Film & TV Fond]] |access-date=9 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200925183309/https://nordiskfilmogtvfond.com/news/stories/nordic-genre-boost-films-lamb-and-hatching-attract-world-buyers |archive-date=25 September 2020 |date=25 June 2020 |url-status=live}}</ref>
}}
| released       = {{film date|2021|7|13|[[2021 Cannes Film Festival|Cannes]]|df=yes|2021|09|24|Iceland|2021|12|31|Poland|2022|03|11|Sweden}}
| runtime        = 107 minutes<ref>{{cite web |title=Lamb |url=https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/lamb-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc01mzm4mtm |publisher=[[British Board of Film Classification]] |access-date=9 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211126173728/https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/lamb-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc01mzm4mtm |archive-date=26 November 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref>
| country        = {{ubl|Iceland|Sweden|Poland}}
| language       = Icelandic
| budget         =
| gross          = $3.2 million<ref name="BOM">{{cite Box Office Mojo |id=9812474 |url= https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl3725492993/?ref_=bo_da_table_5 |title= Lamb (2021) |access-date=27 February 2022}}{{cbignore}}</ref>
}}
'''''Lamb''''' ({{langx|is|Dýrið||The animal}}) is a 2021 [[folk horror]] film<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/new-a24-horror-movie-lamb-craziest-film-of-fall/|title=New A24 Horror Movie Lamb Could be the Craziest Film of the Fall|date=28 July 2021}}</ref> directed by [[Valdimar Jóhannsson]], who also co-wrote the screenplay with [[Sjón]]. The film's plot is about the birth of a human/sheep hybrid of mysterious origin and the couple who adopts the child as their own. An [[international co-production]] between [[Iceland]], [[Sweden]], and [[Poland]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://pisf.pl/aktualnosci/premiera-kinowa-koprodukcji-lamb/|title = PISF - Premiera kinowa koprodukcji "Lamb"}}</ref> the film stars [[Noomi Rapace]] and marks Valdimar's [[List of directorial debuts|feature-length directorial debut]]. Rapace and [[Béla Tarr]] were executive producers. After premiering at the [[2021 Cannes Film Festival]], the film was released in Iceland on 24 September 2021. It was selected as the Icelandic entry for the [[Academy Award for Best International Feature Film|Best International Feature Film]] at the [[94th Academy Awards]].<ref name="Iceland">{{cite web |url=https://www.ruv.is/frett/2021/10/18/dyrid-framlag-islands-til-oskarsverdlauna |title=Kvikmyndin Dýrið verður framlag Íslands til Óskarsverðlauna 2022. |first= Davíð |last=Kjartan Gestsson |work=RÚV |date=18 October 2021 |access-date=18 October 2021}}</ref>
==Plot==
In [[Iceland]], a herd of horses is spooked by an unknown, loudly-breathing entity that makes its way to a barn. Later, farmer María and her husband, Ingvar, are shocked when one of their pregnant sheep gives birth to a human/sheep [[Hybrid (biology)|hybrid]] with a mostly human body and a lamb's head and right arm.
María and Ingvar take the hybrid infant in as their own and grow to love her as their own child, naming her Ada after María's deceased daughter. The ewe that is Ada's biological mother misses her child and becomes a nuisance, attempting to contact Ada constantly and loitering outside the couple's home. Shortly after an incident where Ada goes missing and is later found next to the ewe, María shoots the ewe and buries her body in a shallow, unmarked grave. Unbeknownst to her, Ingvar's roving brother Pétur, who arrives at the farmhouse shortly before the killing, witnesses the incident before sleeping in the barn.
Pétur, who makes sexual advances towards María, is very disturbed by Ada and maintains the belief that "it's an animal, not a child". Ingvar claims that the whole situation has given them happiness. Increasingly angered and disturbed by María and Ingvar's attachment to Ada, Pétur takes her on an early morning walk while everyone else is asleep with the intention of shooting her. After having a tearful change of heart, however, he is later seen soundly sleeping with Ada and soon becomes an uncle to her.
One evening, while María, Pétur, and Ingvar are having a drunken party, Ada witnesses the unknown entity from before near the barn. The entity then proceeds to kill the family's dog before taking the family's gun. After the party, a drunk Ingvar goes to bed. Pétur makes sexual advances toward María once again. When she rejects his advances, Pétur reveals that he witnessed her killing Ada's sheep mother, trying to blackmail María into having sex with him by threatening to reveal this to Ada. María pretends to be seduced by Pétur in order to lock him in a storage room.
The next morning, María unlocks the storage room and drives him to a bus stop. Sending him away, she insists she is committed to a new start with her family. After waking up to find María and Pétur missing, Ingvar takes Ada to fix the broken tractor left halfway to the lake, the attempt proven unsuccessful. On their way back home, the entity, revealed to be a ram/man hybrid and Ada's biological father, emerges and shoots Ingvar in the neck before taking a tearful Ada with him and walking away into the wilderness.
María returns home and finds that Ingvar and Ada are missing. She searches for the two, discovers Ingvar before he dies, and despairs at the loss of her husband and new child. María searches the wilderness in vain before closing her tear-filled eyes.
==Cast==
* [[Noomi Rapace]] as María
* [[Hilmir Snær Guðnason]] as Ingvar
* [[Björn Hlynur Haraldsson]] as Pétur
* [[Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson]] as man on television
* Lára Björk Hall as the voice of Ada
==Production==
{{expand section|date=June 2022}}
In February 2019, [[Noomi Rapace]] and [[Hilmir Snær Guðnason]] had joined the cast of the film, with Valdimar Jóhannsson directing from a screenplay he wrote alongside [[Sjón]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://variety.com/2019/film/global/noomi-rapace-lamb-new-europe-1203132543/|title=Noomi Rapace Boards Supernatural Drama 'Lamb,' Sold by New Europe (Exclusive)|website=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|first=Leo|last=Barraclough|date=8 February 2019|access-date=5 July 2021}}</ref>
==Release==
In June 2020, the film was sold across [[Europe]] in the [[New Europe Film Sales]] agency. The film was picked up by distributors in Czech Republic (Artcam), France (The Jokers), Switzerland (Filmcoopi), Slovakia (ASFK), Germany (Koch Films), Poland (Gutek Film), Benelux (The Searchers), Hungary (Vertigo), Austria (Filmladen), Denmark (Camera Film), Lithuania ([[Scanorama (film festival)|Scanorama]]), former Yugoslavia (Five Stars/Demiurg), Estonia (Must Käsi) and Latvia (Kino Bize) with [[MUBI]] acquiring the distribution rights for Latin America (excluding Mexico), Turkey, India, the UK and Ireland.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Mitchell|first=Wendy|title=Buyers feast on Icelandic drama 'Lamb' (Exclusive)|url=https://www.screendaily.com/news/buyers-feast-on-icelandic-drama-lamb-Exclusive/5161340.article|access-date=27 July 2021|website=ScreenDaily|language=en}}</ref><ref name="Variety">{{cite web|url=https://variety.com/2020/film/global/cannes-noomi-rapace-lamb-1234646120/amp/ |title=Noomi Rapace Supernatural Drama 'Lamb' Sells Across Europe (Exclusive)|first=Leo|last=Barraclough|website=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|date=23 June 2020|access-date=22 March 2021}}</ref><ref name="Bloody">{{cite web|url=https://bloody-disgusting.com/movie/3621269/first-shot-noomi-rapace-supernatural-drama-lamb-cannes/ |title=Gorgeous First Shot of Noomi Rapace in Supernatural Drama 'Lamb' [Cannes]|first=Brad|last=Miska|website=[[Bloody Disgusting]]|date=24 June 2020|access-date=22 March 2021}}</ref><ref name="NEFS">{{cite web|url=http://neweuropefilmsales.com/movies/lamb/ |title=LAMB – New Europe Film Sales|website=[[New Europe Film Sales]]|access-date=22 March 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/noomi-rapace-cannes-bound-drama-lamb-snared-by-mubi-in-multi-territory-deal-Exclusive-1234970368/|title=Noomi Rapace Cannes-Bound Drama 'Lamb' Snared by Mubi in Multi-Territory Deal (Exclusive)|last=Ritman|first=Alex|work=[[The Hollywood Reporter]]|date=18 June 2021|accessdate=8 July 2021}}</ref> In July 2021, [[A24]] acquired North American distribution rights to the film.<ref name="A24">{{cite web|url=https://variety.com/2021/film/global/a24-cannes-un-certain-regard-lamb-new-europe-film-sales-1235011672/|title=A24's Pickup of Cannes Un Certain Regard Film 'Lamb' ConfirmeNew Europe Film Sales Debuts Teaser|website=Variety|first=Leo|last=Barraclough|date=5 July 2021|access-date=5 July 2021}}</ref>
The film had its world premiere on 13 July 2021 as part of the official selection at the [[2021 Cannes Film Festival]] in the ''[[Un Certain Regard]]'' section.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/infos-communiques/communique/articles/the-films-of-the-official-selection-2021|title = The films of the Official Selection 2021|date = 3 June 2021}}</ref>  It was released in the United States on 8 October 2021.{{Citation needed|date=January 2022}} The film also had a special screening of [[BFI London Film Festival]] on 15 October 2021<ref>{{cite news |url = https://www.bfi.org.uk/london-film-festival/news/full-programme-65th-bfi-london-film-festival |title = BFI is Special Screening on Lamb (2021) in USA| newspaper=Bfi }}</ref>
== Reception ==
=== Box office ===
In the United States and Canada, ''Lamb'' was released alongside ''[[No Time to Die]]'' and earned $1 million from 583 theaters, finishing seventh and marking the best-ever opening weekend for an Icelandic film in the U.S.<ref>{{Cite web|last= D'Alessandro |first= Anthony |date= 10 October 2021 |title= 'No Time to Die', Daniel Craig's Final Bond Film, Opens to $56M Domestic Opening – Box Office |url= https://deadline.com/2021/10/no-time-to-die-weekend-box-office-1234852700/ |access-date=10 October 2021 |website=Deadline Hollywood}}</ref>
=== Critical response ===
{{Rotten Tomatoes prose|86|7.1|189|Darkly imaginative and brought to life by a pair of striking central performances, ''Lamb'' shears expectations with its singularly wooly chills.|ref=yes|access-date=31 October 2021}} {{MC film|68|33|ref=yes|access-date=16 October 2021}}
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."<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Fear |first=David |date=9 October 2021 |title='Lamb' Is the Sweetest, Most Touching Horror-Movie Nightmare You've Ever Seen |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/movies/movie-reviews/lamb-movie-review-noomi-rapace-1234065/ |url-access=subscription |access-date=15 October 2021 |magazine=[[Rolling Stone]]}}</ref> 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".<ref>{{cite news |last=Catsoulis |first=Jeannette |date=7 October 2021 |title='Lamb' Review: Oh No, Not My Baby! |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/07/movies/lamb-review.html |url-access=subscription |access-date=15 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211011104638/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/07/movies/lamb-review.html |archive-date=11 October 2021 |url-status=live |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Michael O'Sullivan of ''[[The Washington Post]]'' also described the film as a "haunting, atmospheric feature debut", and wrote: "Johannsson has a way of imbuing everything — animate and inanimate, even an empty doorway — with a kind of living, breathing spirit." He gave the film a score of 3/4 stars.<ref>{{cite news |last=O'Sullivan |first=Michael |title=Review {{!}} The movie 'Lamb' is weird, even by A24 standards, but also haunting and beautiful |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/movies/lamb-movie-review/2021/10/06/26962110-23ab-11ec-b3d6-8cdebe60d3e2_story.html |access-date=15 October 2021 |url-access=limited |issn=0190-8286}}</ref> Katie Walsh of the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' wrote, "Ominous mountains look down upon the pastoral arena where this fantastical yet meditative rural drama plays out; it's a modern folk tale about the strange realities of life and death that such a closeness to nature affords."<ref>{{cite news |last=Walsh |first=Katie |date=7 October 2021 |title=Review: Horror haunts the edges of darkly meditative Icelandic folk tale 'Lamb' |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2021-10-07/review-lamb-noomi-rapace |access-date=15 October 2021 |url-access=subscription |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]}}</ref> [[Joe Morgenstern]] of ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'' described the film as "a shaggy lamb story expertly told."<ref>{{cite news |last=Morgenstern |first=Joe |title='Lamb' Review: Shear Brilliance |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/lamb-noomi-rapace-valdimar-johannsson-lisbeth-sander-girl-with-the-dragon-tatoo-11633639271 |url-access=subscription |access-date=16 October 2021 |newspaper=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |date=7 October 2021}}</ref> [[Kevin Maher (writer)|Kevin Maher]] of ''[[The Times]]'' gave the film 4/5 stars, writing, "The director, Valdimar Johannsson, treats the admittedly ridiculous material with a convincing, deadpan seriousness and is supported at every step by his star performer on impeccable form."<ref>{{cite news |last=Maher |first=Kevin|date=10 December 2021 |title=Lamb review — original and bizarre fright flick mixes slow-building tension with visual gags |newspaper=[[The Times]] |url=https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/lamb-review-original-and-bizarre-fright-flick-mixes-slow-building-tension-with-visual-gags-b6vj8wc6b |access-date=14 December 2021 |issn=0140-0460}}</ref>
[[Richard Brody]] of ''[[The New Yorker]]'' was more critical of the film, saying that it "preens and strains to be admired even as it reduces its characters to pieces on a game board and its actors to puppets."<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Brody |first=Richard |date=8 October 2021 |title="Lamb," Reviewed: A Horror Film Where Cleverness Is the Problem |url=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-front-row/lamb-reviewed-a-horror-film-where-cleverness-is-the-problem |url-access=limited |access-date=15 October 2021 |magazine=[[The New Yorker]]}}</ref> Barry Hertz of ''[[The Globe and Mail]]'' criticized the film's ending as being "like a parody of an A24 horror movie", and wrote, "I won't make the obvious joke and say it's baaad. But its sheep thrills are mutton to write home about, either."<ref>{{cite news |last=Hertz |first=Barry |date=5 October 2021 |title=Review: Wild horror film Lamb will do mutton for your parental anxieties |newspaper=[[The Globe and Mail]] |url-access=limited |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/film/reviews/article-wild-horror-film-lamb-will-do-mutton-for-your-parental-anxieties/ |access-date=15 October 2021}}</ref> Alison Willmore of ''[[New York (magazine)#Vulture|Vulture]]'' wrote, "By the time the final act rolls around, ''Lamb'' approaches the idea that there's a price that must be paid with a shrugging diffidence rather than impending doom. It's such an underwhelming conclusion to a film with such a compelling start."<ref>{{cite web |last=Willmore |first=Alison |date=8 October 2021 |title=Lamb Is a Dark Fairy Tale With a Great Concept and Not Much to Say |website=[[New York (magazine)#Vulture|Vulture]] |url-access=limited |url=https://www.vulture.com/article/dark-fairytale-lamb-has-a-great-concept-but-not-much-to-say.html |access-date=16 October 2021}}</ref>
==See also==
* [[List of submissions to the 94th Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film]]
* [[List of Icelandic submissions for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film]]
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==External links==
* {{IMDb title|9812474}}
{{Icelandic submissions for the Academy Award}}
[[Category:2021 films]]
[[Category:2021 drama films]]
[[Category:2021 independent films]]
[[Category:2020s monster movies]]
[[Category:2021 fantasy films]]
[[Category:2020s Icelandic-language films]]
[[Category:Swedish drama films]]
[[Category:Swedish fantasy films]]
[[Category:Swedish independent films]]
[[Category:Icelandic drama films]]
[[Category:Icelandic fantasy films]]
[[Category:Icelandic independent films]]
[[Category:Polish drama films]]
[[Category:Polish fantasy films]]
[[Category:Polish independent films]]
[[Category:A24 (company) films]]
[[Category:Folk horror films]]
[[Category:Films about families]]
[[Category:Films about sheep]]
[[Category:Films set on farms]]
[[Category:Films set in Iceland]]
[[Category:2021 directorial debut films]]
[[Category:2020s American films]]