Lamb

Directed by Valdimar Jóhannsson

Running time: 1hr46 | REVIEWED BY CATHERINE BRAY

Noomi Rapace as María

Have you been indoors too much this year? I know I have. One of the pleasures of watching this off-beat film unfold is that it feels like getting a big lungful of fresh air. Lamb captures the sensation of huge skies stretched out over mist-capped mountains, of putting on a pair of big boots and striding across frost-tipped scrubland. The ancient Icelandic bones of the rural territory that the characters inhabit give a robust foundation to a fantastical tale, keeping the story earth-bound, despite its fairytale qualities.

The origins of fairytales can be difficult to trace. Many are rooted in obscure or forgotten folklore and oral storytelling traditions. But it’s pretty well established that they originated as a form of entertainment for adults, before gradually becoming more and more family-friendly across the 19th and 20th centuries (the Disney effect, so to speak).

And although it’s set now, Lamb is a throwback to a time before cinema. Starring Noomi Rapace, an excellent Swedish actor who doesn’t always get the roles she deserves, it’s both a character study and a fable, about a couple who work as sheep farmers in a remote and misty part of the land. One day, they discover a lamb/human hybrid, birthed by one of their flock. They adopt the unusual child and begin to raise her as their own. Because this is a fairytale, this decision is a simple one, and the events — some of which are dark and violent — that unfold as a result are also simple, but have a profound and magical sense of inevitability to them, as in all the best fairy stories. Lamb takes its time to cast its spell, but before you know it, you'll be hypnotised.

LAMB (2021) Written by Sjón, Valdimar Jóhannsson | Shot by Eli Arenson | Edited by Agnieszka Glinska

In cinemas now.