THE OPINION OF THE “WORLD” – MUST SEE
In the beginning, Valdimar Johannsson created the storm. This made the relief indistinct, blurring the sky and the Earth. Then, behind the window of a lighted sheepfold, he made the head of a ram appear, with an immense gaze fixed on us. He then summoned the dog, the cat, the sheep and, finally, the man and the woman, silent, busy with the chores of the farm. On the second day, the fog lifted, showing vast expanses of wild and wet, surrounded by snow-capped mountains.
The genesis according to Valdimar Johannsson seems to bring us back to the origins of the world and announce a story of biblical simplicity. Only the director is Icelandic. And was inspired by the popular tales of his country to write (with the writer Sjon) the screenplay for his first feature film, presented in Cannes, in July, in the selection Un certain regard, where he received the Prize for originality. A fable as austere as it is incongruous, the strangeness of which creeps into the details – the sounds, the agitation of the animals -, and out of view. Something is coming (maybe), producing a feeling of unease that the film strives to maintain, rather than resolve. Lamb builds its legend on this expectation punctuated by the repetition of everyday gestures and the alternation of the seasons.
Unbelievable ovid
In their farm planted in the middle of the desert plains of Northern Ireland, Maria (Noomi Rapace) and Ingvar (Hilmir Snær Guonason) live alone, raise their flock of sheep, work to break their backs, speak little. While helping their sheep to give birth, one of them gives birth to a half sheep and half girl creature, which the couple names Ada and sets out to raise like their own child. More grotesque than horrifying, the appearance of the animal (whose entire body is revealed to us in the fortieth minute of the film only) is laughing. So much so that one wonders if this is not a joke. The story, however, continues, as if nothing exceptional had happened. And you end up getting used to the presence of this incredible ovid.
Because the monster is elsewhere, embodied by the couple formed by Maria and Ingvar, silent characters, impervious to emotions when we discover them at the beginning of the film. Then becoming more and more disturbing as we see them cling to their chimera and come to life thanks to it. The creature, they believe, will help them mourn the child they once lost. The illusion that they are determined to implement has no other way out than to lead them to their ruin. Signs are sent which do not deceive. They emerge as intruders in a story in which the prosaic and the bizarre, animal and human, nature and the supernatural, become entangled. The fable that Valdimar Johannsson tells us is darker than it seems. And the disordered world that he describes closer to its end than to its origins.
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