A24′s newest atmospheric horror will have you counting sheep — but not out of boredom.
Valdimar Johannsson’s directorial debut, “Lamb,” baa’ing its way into theaters this weekend, will leave audiences “shaken,” which is exactly what star Noomi Rapace hopes.
“I just felt like, wow, like I’ve never seen this,” the Swedish-born actress, who moved to Iceland as a child, told the Daily News on a Zoom call with Johannsson. “It triggered something in me that it was just like, you know, I felt like I’ve been waiting for this without knowing that it was exactly this I’ve been waiting for.”
Set in the privacy of rural Iceland — and subtitled accordingly — the domestic drama may be marketed as a horror film, even if its director, who co-wrote alongside Icelandic poet and novelist Sjón, doesn’t quite see it that way. The “disturbing and beautiful” film sees the life of sheep farmers María (Rapace) and Ingvar (Hilmir Snaer Guonason) take a turn when one of their sheep births a curious hybrid lamb-human and the couple decides to raise the creature as their child.
“It’s strange, I think Maria started living in me straightaway when I was reading it. There’s hardly any dialogue but like she and her being and her life story just kind of moved into my body. So I said straight away, I’m doing this,” Rapace recalled.
As for the horror lens through which so many people have gone into this film, personally, Johannsson feels that “it’s not a horror film.
“It’s a classical story with this one fringe element,” the director, whose grandparents were also sheep farmers, told The News.
While Maria and Ingvar’s domesticity grows ever more idyllic with their new addition, Ada, her presence isn’t without its obstacles — moral, mortal, and ones that can’t help but remind the couple of their past.
Much of the joy, turmoil, and tension experienced in the film though is depicted wordlessly, through telling looks and the stunning but harsh and unique Icelandic landscape.
“In a way, there’s no way to hide,” said the “Prometheus” actress.
“In the script, the nature is almost like one character in the film. ... But we decided that you know, it could not be too beautiful,” said Johannsson.
“Not romantic,” Rapace added. “Not romantic and not sentimental.”
Johannsson and his star were more concerned with staying true to the story than worrying what audiences would think.
“We didn’t really think about so much where it was gonna be... like how it was gonna land with you and like how it was going to be received,” said Rapace. “We created something that was like honest and very personal for us and then everything that’s happening now [the reception] is just overwhelming and amazing and quite a shock.”
“Lamb” may be an Icelandic film through and through but Rapace noted the “family story” central to it makes it a universal tale.
“I hope this film will be a movie that people revisit and talk about and that kind of awakes different conversations and emotions. And not everyone needs to like it. ... A positive response is not always the best,” said Rapace. “I think we need to be shaken.”
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